Civil registration 1837 - 1874 (General)
by slowhands, proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Sunday, April 05, 2009, 12:40 (3743 days ago) @ jchardy
Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths, in England and Wales, started on 1 July 1837 introduced after legislation in 1836, the Marriage Act of 1836 (Act of 6 & 7 William IV, chapter 85) and the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1836 (Act of 6 & 7 William IV, Chapter 86).

1837-1874
The country was divided into Registration Districts, each under the control of a Superintendent Registrar. Registrars were appointed to issue certificates for births and deaths which occurred in their area. Their duty was to actively collect information and they were paid according to their success. There was no penalty for not registering a birth or death, so records from this time are incomplete, possibly a third of the population is missing from these early records. When the local registers became full they were sent to the Superintendent Registrar for safe keeping. The Superintendent Registrar produced local indexes of events and four times a year sent copies to the Registrar General in London.
Births
Parents were not bound to give birth information unless requested by the Registrar. Some were not truthful about the date of birth, as they had to pay if the registration was more than 6 weeks after the birth. Some parents thought baptism was a legal alternative.
Marriages
From 1837, marriages could take place in a local register office, instead of a church. A new type of marriage register was introduced for all marriage ceremonies. The Church of England, Jews and Quakers could conduct and register their own marriage ceremonies. Two registers were completed, one for the church the other for the state. Other denominations (Methodists, Baptists, Unitarians etc) had to apply for their chapels to be licensed to conduct marriages and could only conduct a ceremony there if, in addition to the minister, a Registrar was also present to record the events in a Register Office marriage register. This did not change until 1898.
From 1874
The Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1874 (Act of 37 & 38 Victoria, Chapter 88) made registration compulsory. The onus for registration of a birth was passed to the parents, or the occupier of the house where a birth took place. The birth had to be registered within 42 days or a £2.00 fine was imposed. It still remained a common belief that baptism registered the birth, also if the parents ran out of time they would either lie about the date of birth or simply not register and hope not to get caught.
The responsibility for recording a death was placed on a relation of the deceased. The registration had to be supported by a certificate signed by a doctor, and the death had to be registered within 5 days.
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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>
locked

Thanks
Mike

Thanks all for looking, may be able to come back with news

NormanE

Apparently the Newland Parish Workhouse was sited in the parish's main town Coleford on the corner of St John and Bank streets), see
https://www.colefordtown.net/coleford/tracing-roots-in-the-forest/

The FoD LH Society newsletter states;

All parishes worked independently of each other and a town could be made up of several parishes, Knatchbull’s General Workhouse Act of 1723 gave parishes the right to erect workhouses, the Forest of Dean parishes of Ruardean, Mitcheldean, English Bicknor, Awre, Littledean, Westbury-on-Severn, Newland and Newnham either erected workhouses or utilised other dwellings. In 1814 the Newland parish workhouse in Coleford, established in about 1786, advertised for a Matron to ‘...undertake the Management of this House, where there are upon average about forty paupers...’
https://www.forestofdeanhistory.org.uk/assets/PDF/Newsletters/JUL-2013-NEWSLETTER-for-d...

This was also discussed on this prior forum post, http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=35206

If we are correct this is Albert's baptism from Mongenes:
Parish or Chapel Llandogo
Date 13 Mar 1888
Parent's Surname MARSHALL
Child's forename(s) Albert
Father's forename(s) James
Mother's forename(s) Sarah
Mother's surname (if different)
Type of Event Baptism
Residence Whitebrook
(Father's) Occupation Labourer
Officiating Minister
Memoranda in register
Transcriber's Notes
Gwent record office
register ref. number LDS/PA 41
Parish register entry no.
Parish register page no.
Record_ID 37656
Transcription Llandogo Baptisms 1879-1893
Transcribers entry no. 118

A few years after his birth but 5 children were baptised at the same time.

Mike

I'm also trying to locate the remnants of a large Ward family following the death of William in 1907( Public Trees Ancestry) to see if Ellen is there. I haven't found any of the family to date.

Do you mean William's descendants? Who is Ellen?

This is what I have

(click image and open in new tab for larger version)

Mike

Mike

I should have put 'spoiler alert' in the title.

Btw I wasn't listening live, so when researching this post my feed was about an hour "behind", when they were stalling c220.

An Act for registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England.
[17 August 1836] 6 & 7 Will. IV. c.86

XX. And be it enacted, That the Father or Mother of every child born in England after the said First Day of March, or in case of the Death, Illness, Absence, or Inability of the Father or Mother, the Occupier of the House or Tenement in which such Child shall have been born, shall, within Forty-two Days next after the Day of every such Birth, give Information, upon being requested so to do, to the said Registrar, according to the best of his or her Knowledge and Belief, of the several Particulars hereby required to be known and registered touching the Birth of such Child.

XXII. And be it enacted, That after the Expiration of Forty-two Days following the Day of the Birth of any Child it shall not be lawful for any Registrar to register such Birth, save as herein-after is next mentioned; provided that, in case the Birth of any Child shall not have been registered according to the Provisions herein-before contained, it shall be lawful for any Person present at the Birth of such Child, or for the Father or Guardian thereof, at any Time within Six Calendar Months next after the Birth, to make a solemn Declaration of the Particulars required to be known touching the Birth of such Child, according to the best of his or her Knowledge and Belief, and it thereupon be lawful for the said Registrar then and there, in the Presence of the Superintendent Registrar, to register the Birth of the said Child according to the Information of the Person making the said Declaration;'

I used to assume that each area/parish within a registration district had it's own "admin office", so as per the following list that would be Coleford, but again that's just my guess...
https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/monmouth.html

I've often had queries regarding the registration process, insofar and as you've mentioned, despite there being "rules" I'm not sure they were often adhered to, or anyone penalised for not adhering to the rules.

A major query of mine is this - I know it was the Registrar's responsiblity for "recording the event", but who's responsibility was it to make the Registrar aware the event had occurred ?. For a birth, was it the parents, or doctors, or the church ministers ?. I think the parents BUT have never seen it written down as such.

I also don't know for sure whether folk HAD to register at their local office, as dictated by the Registration District they lived in ? I think not but ???.

It seems that the situation was clearer and (in theory) better-enforced after 1875, which included this birth, but ??.
https://www.genguide.co.uk/source/civil-registration-birth-england-amp-wales/19/

This is a bit of a slog to read but does help show the problems of the registration system in Victorian times.
https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/early-civil-registration/

Next step is to check GRO Registrations for mothers maiden name:
Name: Mother's Maiden Surname:
MARSHALL, CLIFFORD ALBERT WARD
GRO Reference: 1912 J Quarter in MONMOUTH Volume 11A Page 42

Name: Mother's Maiden Surname:
MARSHALL, GLADYS MAY WARD
GRO Reference: 1908 D Quarter in MONMOUTH Volume 11A Page 24

I think that puts it beyond doubt. Either the birth was registered late or the date of birth quoted in 1939 Register is incorrect - we will probably never know!

Mike