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BMD registration system?

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  • BMD registration system?

    I wonder if I have been making wrong assumptions for years. I have presumed that if, say, a death is registered 5g page 300 in Q4 of 1890 and that the first and last pages in that quarter are 100 and 500 respectively, then the death was registered approx mid November. I've tried looking online for the answer but can't find what I want.
    Any explanation would be appreciated.
    SS

  • #2
    I might be wrong, but I think each registration district, have books, and they just work through them, when one is full they move onto the next. The quarters exist as a national index from all of those registers information in alpha order.

    some smaller districts will not get through as many volumes as others.

    if you go to freebmd you can see the same volume is used over many months.
    Last edited by cbcarolyn; 08-10-20, 20:56.
    Carolyn
    Family Tree site

    Researching: Luggs, Freeman - Cornwall; Dayman, Hobbs, Heard - Devon; Wilson, Miles - Northants; Brett, Everett, Clark, Allum - Herts/Essex
    Also interested in Proctor, Woodruff

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    • #3
      Just the same idea in Scotland where we don’t use the quarter system. We just use the year.
      Certificate number is entirely dependent on the type of registration district concerned. For instance, a Reg District which covers the same geographic area as a small country parish may only use a tiny proportion of the pages in a register before a line is drawn under the last entry and a declaration written underneath that the register is closed for that calendar year. A new register book would be used from 1st January. So entry number 30 in the register of births could be a child born and registered as late as the last few days of December. Compare that with say an inner city parish in Glasgow and entry number 30 could be a child born and registered as quick as the first day or two of January.

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      • #4
        here is a snapshot of the Luggs in Helston - they used volume 9 until 1851

        bmd.JPG
        Carolyn
        Family Tree site

        Researching: Luggs, Freeman - Cornwall; Dayman, Hobbs, Heard - Devon; Wilson, Miles - Northants; Brett, Everett, Clark, Allum - Herts/Essex
        Also interested in Proctor, Woodruff

        Comment


        • #5
          Thanks - but I obviously wasn't too clear (or I'm daft!)
          Let me use Helston as an example. Say that death registrations there for the 4th quarter of 1890 start at page 100 and finish at page 500 so page 300 is halfway through. Could a death registered on page 300 have occurred on 1st October - or 28th December, or was it more likely to have been about the middle of November? I realise that towns on the outer borders of the registration district would have got their returns to Helston later than those from nearby.

          Thanks,
          SS

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          • #6
            You can't guess at what point a death occured by looking at page numbers......

            and all you could guess is when said death was registered.

            not the same as date of death. You will only know what the date is from buying the certificate, or having ancillary evidence, such as a burial or will.

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            • #7
              Aha KJ,
              But doesn't a death have to be registered before a burial can take place? Never mind, I suspect that the 'father' had died very soon after the son was conceived!

              Thanks,
              SS

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              • #8
                Originally posted by SurfinSmurf View Post
                But doesn't a death have to be registered before a burial can take place?
                It usually would be, but legally no it doesn't. The Birth & Death Registration Acts of 1836 and 1874 both made provision for the registration to be after a funeral. Currently it still happens, probably more often than in the past.

                Trying to deduce a fact from a GRO index entry beyond that an event was registered (but not necessarily occurred) in a particular quarter involves making a number of assumptions and could be wrong.

                Retired professional researcher, and ex- deputy registrar, now based in Worcestershire. Happy to give any help or advice I can ( especially on matters of civil registration) - contact via PM or my website www.chalfontresearch.co.uk
                Follow me on Twittter @ChalfontR

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by AntonyM View Post

                  It usually would be, but legally no it doesn't. The Birth & Death Registration Acts of 1836 and 1874 both made provision for the registration to be after a funeral. Currently it still happens, probably more often than in the past.
                  Same principle in Scotland but not sure of actual Act details. With us though, the provisions only apply to funerals which are for burials. The death has to be registered before a cremation.

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                  • #10
                    Thanks all,
                    So I have been making wrong assumptions. My interest was in G G G Uncle's offspring whose birth must have been registered very late!

                    Over and out

                    SS

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                    • #11
                      Depending on the time frame, your ancestor's death may not have been registered.

                      due to a notorious black widow case and widespread fraud, from 1875 onwards they tightened the rules about recording deaths. So if the death was prior to 1875, there is a possibility yours was never registered.

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                      • #12
                        The GRO index is simply an alphabetical index created from the results supplied by local registrars each quarter. The name of the individuals listed alphabetically is the priority sorting method used when it was created.

                        If the event occured late in a quarter it can easily appear in the following quarter, eg an event on New Years Eve takes place in the Dec qtr but will be registered in the Mar qtr.
                        http://www.flickr.com/photos/50125734@N06/

                        Joseph Goulson 1701-1780
                        My sledging hammer lies declined, my bellows too have lost their wind
                        My fire's extinct, my forge decay'd, and in the dust my vice is laid

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