birth registrations

[Nautilus]

Did people sometimes not register the birth of their children in the 1840's?

 I'd like a birth certificate of my gt gt grandmother or her two sisters to get their mothers maiden name but I can't find them. They were born in 1839, 1841 & 1843 so they should be registered. I've found a date of birth & christening for the youngest on the IGI but can't find her even having an exact ( hopefully) date.  I've looked in partial & complete free BMD ancestry & Find My Past & can only think that the family just didn't bother. Presumably when registration first started there was less need than now to show your birth certificate for proof of identity or age?

[Necromancer]

Not that unusual, I've heard some frightening stats ...... in the 1870s, a penalty was imposed, but still people chose not to spend the money on registration.

Whats the name - is it possibly prone to mistranscription ..... the other day we found a pair of twins called Rolf, registered as RUFF !

[Nautilus]

It's Lugg. I've checked Leggs though I expect there are lots of other possibilities. I wouldn't have thought all three would be mistranscribed though.  Also mistranscription seems more of a problem with census data than GRO indexes.

I didn't realise it cost money to register a birth.  That would be a good reason not to bother!

[stanmapstone]

Not that unusual, I've heard some frightening stats ...... in the 1870s, a penalty was imposed, but still people chose not to spend the money on registration.

You did not have to spend any money on registration, and the compulsion was on the registrar, as the 1836 Registration Act stated
"....and every Registrar shall be authorized and is hereby required to inform himself carefully of every Birth and every Death which shall happen within his District...and to learn and register soon after the Event as conveniently may be done, without Fee or Reward save as herein-after mentioned, "

The registrars also had an incentive to register as they were paid for the entries viz. "for the first Twenty Entries of Births and Deaths in every Year which he shall have registered, whether the same be of Births or of Deaths indiscriminately, Two Shillings and Sixpence each, and One Shilling for every subsequent Entry of Births or Deaths in each Year."


Stan

[Necromancer]

sadly Stan, the Act was amended in 1874 to put the Onus for Registration back to the parent ..... and altho I cant find a figure, I'm pretty sure there was a Registration fee - as there is today ....


Civil registrations were not completely inclusive or reliable during the early years. The new law was regarded as revolutionary in 1837. Many people felt that the government had an ulterior motive for introducing this law (taxes, etc.) and were, therefore, suspicious of registration. Others did not understand the need for civil registration, as their baptisms, marriages, and deaths were all recorded in the church registers. Prior to 1875, there was also no penalty for failure to register events, so many people just didn't make the effort.
 
In addition to the problems with incomplete records, the system also allowed for many erroneous registrations to take place. During the early years of registration, the burden was upon the local registrar to seek registrations for which he was paid a sum per entry. This compensation per entry, most likely led to cases of fraudulent registrations.
 
Another common area for errors involved birth records. Many births were not recorded, especially prior to 1874/5, because there was no legal mandate for doing so. Parents often did not even know about the law, or thought that the record of the child's baptism in the church register was sufficient. They may also have lived too far from a registration office to make civil registration practical.
 
In order to avoid paying a late registration penalty (imposed upon births not registered within 6 weeks), families often stated a later (incorrect) date of birth for the child so that the registration remained within the 6 week period.    

Newfster.

Right, lets try and help answer the actual question .......

[aghadowey]

sadly Stan, the Act was amended in 1874 to put the Onus for Registration back to the parent ..... and altho I cant find a figure, I'm pretty sure there was a Registration fee - as there is today ....

Is there a fee to register a birth in England today? Just surprised because in Northern Ireland there is no fee for registering births.

[Necromancer]

I might be thinking about this when mentioning fees ..

1836 Act.
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 ; and in every such Case the Superintendent Registrar before whom the said Declaration is made shall sign the Entry of Birth as well as the registrar, and for every such Registry as last aforesaid the Superintendent Registrar shall be entitled to have a Fee of Two Shillings and Sixpence from the Person requiring the same to be registered ; and the Registrar, over and above the Fee herein-after enacted in respect of every birth registered by him, shall be entitled, unless the Delay shall have been occasioned by his Default, to have a Fee of Five Shillings from the person requiring the same to be registered ; and no Register of Births shall be given in Evidence to prove the Birth of any Child wherein it shall appear that Forty-two Days have intervened between the Day of the Birth and the Day of the Registration of the Birth of such Child, unless the Entry shall be signed by the Superintendent Registrar ; and every person who shall knowingly register or cause to be registered the Birth of any Child, otherwise than herein-before is last mentioned, after the Expiration of Forty-two Days following the Day of Birth of such Child, shall forfeit and pay for every such Offence a Sum not exceeding Fifty Pounds.


XXIII. And be it enacted, That after the Expiration of Six Calendar Months following the Birth of any Child it shall not be lawful for any Registrar to register the Birth of such Child, and no Register of Births, except in the Case of Children born at Sea, shall be given in Evidence to prove the Birth of any Child wherein it shall appear that Six Calendar Months have intervened between the Day of the Birth and the Day of the Registration of the Birth of such Child ; and every Person who shall knowingly register or cause to be registered the Birth of any Child after the Expiration of Six Calendar Months following the Day of the Birth of such Child shall forfeit and pay for every such Offence a Sum not exceeding Fifty Pounds.

[Necromancer]

Actual Registration is 'Free' .... altho if you want a full Cert to be provided at the time, its £3.50

Theres nowt online about the 19th C fees, so I guess it was the provision for a late fee I remembered

[aghadowey]

Same as Northern Ireland then.