Time allowed for registration of births: Now v. 1863

[Keith Sherwood]

Could someone please give me the definitive detail on the rules governing how long one has/had to register a birth in England.  At the present I believe it is 6 weeks (though I could easily be wrong about this).  I have just received one of my gt-grandmothers' birth certificate, and she was born on 10-09-1863, but the birth was not registered until 29-01-1864, a gap of about 20 weeks by my reckoning.
Would this have been within the accepted limits then - and wasn't there a general tightening up of the rules about registration of births in the 1870's or so?
Keith

[M.T.H]

Hi Keith,

This from 'Ancestral Trails 2nd edition' by Mark Herber,page55.

Many births were not recorded during the early days of civil registration.Parents were only legally obliged to inform a registrar of the details of a birth if the registrar demanded them.It is estimated that in some parts of England (particularly Surrey,Sussex,Essex,Shropshire and Middlesex),up to 15 per cent of births were not registered between 1837 and 1875.Many people did not know about the law, or thought that a child's baptism,recorded in a church register was a legal alternative to registration.

The position improved from 1875 when the Births and Deaths Act 1874 imposed a duty upon those present at a birth or death to report it to a registrar.There were fines for non-registration and penalties for late registration (that is more than 42 days after birth).

In order to avoid paying a late registration penalty,some parents reported a later (incorrect) date of birth for a child.

Hope this is of some help,

regards,Mick

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi. Mick,
Thanks very much for putting me right on this.  Nothing sinister at all in this particular case, then...
very best wishes,
Keith

[CarolynM]

I was rather perturbed when looking for my birth certificate that the register office had some difficulty finding it.  I was beginning to wonder whether I existed at all when it was found - I was born in March but not registered until July.  This was - let's just say somewhere about 4 decades ago.  So its not just our dim distant ancestors who had better things to do than register their offspring.  I don't know if they were fined for it but whatever happened it wasn't a big enough deal for them to ever mention it.

[Guy Etchells]

The exact rules are set out in the various Acts of Parliaments many of which are transcribed on my Acts site at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/%7Eframland/acts/actind.htm

The 1836 Act covers the relevant period of your question, but it should be noted that the requirement was for the registrar to ask for the information at that time rather than the parents being obliged to provide the information.

Extract from 1836 Act -
XVIII. And be it enacted, That the Registrar General shall furnish to every Superintendent Registrar, for the Use of the Registrars under his Superintendence, a sufficient number of Register Books of Births and of Register Books of Deaths, and of Forms for certified Copies thereof, as herein-after provided, at a reasonable Price, to be fixed from Time to Time by One of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, the Cost whereof shall be borne by the Union, Parish, or Place in or for which the Superintendent Registrar is appointed, and shall be paid by the Guardians or by the Churchwardens and Overseers (as the Case may be), out of monies coming to their Hands or Control as such Guardians or Churchwardens and Overseers, to the Registrar, and shall be accounted for by him to the Registrar General ; 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 after the said First Day of March, and to learn and register soon after the Event as conveniently may be done, without Fee or Reward save as herein-after mentioned, in One of the said Books, the Particulars required to be registered according to the Forms in the said Schedules (A.) and (B.) respectively touching every such Birth or every such Death, as the Case may be, which shall not have been already registered, every such Entry being made in Order from the Beginning to the End of the Book.

XIX. And be it enacted, That the Father or Mother of any Child born, or the Occupier of every House or Tenement in England in which any Birth or Death shall happen, after the said First day of March, may, within Forty-two Days next after the Day of such Birth or within Five Days after the Day of such Death respectively, give Notice of such Birth or Death to the Registrar of the District ; and in case any new-born Child or any dead Body shall be found exposed, the Overseers of the Poor in the Case of the new-born Child, and the Coroner in the case of the dead Body, shall forthwith give Notice and Information thereof, and of the Place where such Child or dead Body was found, to the Registrar ; and for the Purpose of this Act the Master or Keeper of every Gaol, Prison, or House of Correction, or Workhouse, Hospital, or Lunatic Asylum, or public or charitable Institution, shall be deemed the Occupier thereof.

Cheers
Guy