not church of England

[Eilleen]

Hello,

I have tried to find births for 9 people in a family, parents and their children,

none seemed to be registered , dates range from 1823 to 1868,

does this mean they did not have to register because of some religious belief ?

[KGarrad]

Civil Registration, in England and Wales, started on 1st July 1837.

Or did you mean baptisms?

[BumbleB]

As KG said, birth registration in England and Wales began in 1837, but it was not compulsory until 1874.

[GrahamSimons]

Of course there would be no registration before 1837; registration only became compulsory for parents of a child in 1875.
So many of the records you seek would be baptisms, if the child were indeed baptised.  Nonconformists believing in adult baptism might mean that you would have to look for baptisms 20+ years after the birth and possibly in a different place or even country. It's worth also considering that church or chapel registers could have been lost, or that they have yet to be digitised: some clergy have been doctrinally opposed.

[Eilleen]

Yes , thought you had to register births.

thank you BumbleB,  That might explain it , they did live in a very rural area.

but these people seem not to have ?

just one more of My many mysteries x

[KGarrad]

Registration of births was nothing to do with the Church of England.
You may be thing of baptisms/christenings - which were never compulsory.

Also not all baptisms show a date of birth?

[Jebber]

They were supposed to have been registered from the 1st July 1837, but the onus was on the Registrars to locate new births., so some got missed.

From 1875 it changed to being the responsibility of the parent to go and register them, there was a fine if they failed  do so.

[AntonyMMM]

As KG said, birth registration in England and Wales began in 1837, but it was not compulsory until 1874.

Really ? That must have come as a shock to those prosecuted for failing or refusing to register in the early days then ( I use an example from 1839 when I give talks on the subject).

[BumbleB]

Oops - we all learn something new every day, don't we?  Thank you.