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Archiver > LONDON > 2004-01 > 1073852198


From: "Tony Mitchell" <>
Subject: Re: [Lon] General Birth Registration question
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 20:16:38 -0000
References: <001801c3d7c0$2bcffed0$6401a8c0@Maven> <002401c3d7cd$d0c40280$6401a8c0@Maven>


Bill said:

> Okay, so if birth registrations were not guaranteed before 1875 or so, how
about marriages and deaths? I imagine marriages would be registered by the
church and deaths by the physician in which case they would nearly all be
registered. Or, were they registered by the family in which case we'd be
back to possibly missing entries. Just curious what the procedure was.<

Below is clarification on a couple of points other listers have given in
reply.

Prior to 1876 it wasn't mandatory for deaths to be certified by a medical
practitioner. Often the registrar had only the informant's opinion or guess
as to the possible cause of death.

It would be extremely unusual for a doctor to certify a death and to act as
informant, even if he was present at the death. Although this is not
illegal, and could apply for example where the doctor's spouse has died, a
registrar would be negligent to accept the certifying doctor as the
informant without first referring it to the local coroner.

Regards

Tony

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