DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY-L Archives

From: Catherine Fitchett <>
Subject: [D-G LIST] Re: Taxes on register entries
Date: Thu, 6 Jun 2002 16:07:39 +1200
In-Reply-To: <200206052040.g55KeG207218@lists2.rootsweb.com>

>There was an Act of Parliament effective 1st October 1783 imposing a tax of
>3 pence on each birth or baptism, each marriage and each burial. This was
>repealed in 1794.

Although the tax was repealed, I get the impression from my reading that
there was always a charge to have an entry made in the parish register.
This went either to the church funds or to the session clerk. However
people objected to paying money to the government even more than they
objected to paying it to the church.
No entry doesn't mean no baptism. It just means that after the baptism, the
couple neglected to go to the session clerk to have the baptism recorded in
the register. I have copies of certificates passed down in our family which
appear to have been filled out at the time and given to the couple, who are
instructed (In writing, pre-printed on the certificate) to take the
certificate to the session clerk to have the details entered in the register

>Can anyone help me to unravel the meaning and significance of the following,
>which was written, in the margin of the death certificate of an ancestor :
>
>"See Reg. of Cor or Cox Satrus?? Vol 1, P 15, June19th 1865" ?

In case you haven't had a reply already "Register of Corrected Entries".
There may have been a post mortem, in which case more information on the
cause of death was added, or there may be some other reason to correct the
entry.

Catherine

This thread:

• [D-G LIST] Re: Taxes on register entries by Catherine Fitchett <>