Civil Registration

Civil registration in England began in 1 July 1837, so only records from that date can be found. In practice, there was a slow start and it was not compulsory until 1875.

District Registry Office

The whole of the West Penwith district comes under the remit of the Superintendent Registrar for Penzance. The address is

The records held at this office have the distinct advantage that they are often the originals. They are held chronologically and, in the case of the marriages, are by parish (or register office) as they were originally written. These marriage records should be duplicates of the parish marriage register where they exist.

There is a good and official guide to using these local Registry offices on the County Council Family History page.

General Register Office

The records of the General Register Office are held at

but are not directly accessible, only by post. These are contemporary copy records made locally and deposited regularly. There are indexes to these records which are held by the Family Records Centre, part of the Office of National Statistics, at

(They used to be at St. Catherine’s House and prior to that at Somerset House)

These indexes are arranged by quarter year for the whole of England and Wales in large hand-written, typed or printed books. Microfiche copies of these indexes are held by many research libraries and record offices and also, to order, from LDS family History Centres. When using them, care must be taken to allow for late registration and transport delays spilling the required record into the next quarter.

An online copy of the indexes from 1837 through to 2002 pay-per-view is available at FindMyPast.com (was 1837Online.com). I think the initial search facility is free. I presume that they have rough indexed the pages but have no experience of the system.

The reference numbers obtained from any of these indexes are not usable at the local registry office who have their own system.

This is a summary of what you can expect to find on the indexes of each type. A description by Barbara Dixon of the detailed contents of certificates and what they mean can be found at England and Wales Birth, Marriage and Death Certificate Information. This is now also available as a book

• Barbara Dixon. Birth and Death Certificates, England and Wales, 1837 to 1969; The author, Burnham, Berkshire: 1999. ISBN 0 9535304 0 X.

A useful source for overseas researchers is Mark Howells’ page on Ordering Birth Registration Certificates from England and Wales. A more up to date source is at the General Record Office which includes obtaining certificates online.

A resource worth watching is the FreeBMD project which is (slowly) putting the indexes online and also has a partial list of the locations of copies of the indexes. For Cornwall, all volume numbers are IX until 1851, 5c after that date.

Births

The first volumes contain only surname and as many forenames as fit in the space together with the registration district, the volume and page number. From September 1911 the mother’s maiden name is also included, but reduced space is available for forenames, so they are often reduced to just one, perhaps with initials.

Marriages

The bride and groom are indexed separately and will have the same reference numbers (a good cross check). The first volumes contain only surname and as many forenames as fit in the space together with the registration district, the volume and page number. From March 1912 the spouse’s surname is also included, but reduced space is available for forenames, so they are often reduced to just one, perhaps with initials.

Deaths

The first volumes contain only surname and as many forenames as fit in the space together with the registration district, the volume and page number. From 1866 the age at death is also included. From 1969, if you need information this late, the date of birth is also included.

The Family Records Centre also has indexes of adoption from 1927 and some miscellaneous records.