Catalogue description General Register Office: Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages: Correspondence and Papers

Search within or browse this series to find specific records of interest.

Date range

Details of RG 48
Reference: RG 48
Title: General Register Office: Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages: Correspondence and Papers
Description:

This series relates to the Registrar General's responsibility to interpret, administer and enforce statutory requirements for the registration of births, deaths and marriages, and (from 1926) adoptions, and to regulate the work of local registrars. It mostly comprises files about individual cases and includes opinions of the legal advisers of the Ministry of Health.

Includes original minutes by Sir Sylvanus P Vivian, Registrar General 1921-1945, and opinions given by the Legal Adviser at the Ministry of Health, in addition to more general correspondence. Also covers consular and HM Forces registration from 1914-1972.

Date: 1874-1998
Arrangement:

The file references include a date element, the final two numbers being the year in which the file was created. RG 48/1-3289 are arranged by subject and then numerical order within each year.

Related material:

Papers relating to the organisation of the local registration service are to be found in MH 19

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

General Register Office, 1836-1970

Physical description: 3379 file(s)
Access conditions: Open unless otherwise stated
Immediate source of acquisition:

From 1985 Office of Population Censuses and Surveys

Administrative / biographical background:

The law relating to registration has been much supplemented and amended since 1836. It is now governed by the Marriage Act 1949, the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 and the Registration Service Act 1953.

Have you found an error with this catalogue description?

Help with your research