Another Act was passed (1 Viet. c. 22 —June 30, 1837), entitled "An Act to explain and amend two Acts passed in the last session of Parliament, for Marriages, and for registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages, in England." This Act con sists chiefly of arrangements necessary to extend and improve the provisions of the former Act, and its clauses are not of sufficient interest to the public to require any abstract to be given of them.
Previous to the Registration Act coming into operation it was necessary to divide the country into districts of con venient size for equalizing the labours of the registrars by contracting the area where the population was dense and ex tending it where the population was thin. The Registrar-general issued a circular letter in September, 1836, to the boards of guardians throughout the country, on whom devolved the duty of forming each poor-law union into registration dis tricts, and as the unions differed much from each other in population, ranging fk.om 2000 to 80,000, the registrar general left the arrangement to the guardians, simply referring them to certain principles for their guidance. Parishes and townships not under the Poor-law Commissioners were formed into temporary districts, or, where more convenient, were annexed to a district already comprised in a poor-law union. To each district a registrar of births and deaths is appointed, and also a re gistrar of marriages ; and in each union there is a superintendent registrar. The registrar of births and deaths is ap pointed by the guardians, and is always a resident in the district in which he acts. The registrar of marriages is ap pointed by the superintendent registrar, subject to the approval of the guardians. The total number of registrars of births and deaths at the end of Septem her, 1838, was 2193, of whom 1021 were officers in poor-law unions. At the end of December, 1838, the number of super intendent registrars was 618, of whom 56 were superintendent registrars of temporary districts ; at the same period the number of registrars of marriages was 817, of whom 419 were also re births and deaths. In the ;ear, under the new Act, there were registered in England and Wales— Births 399,712 Deaths 335,956 Marriages . . 111,814 Mr. Irinlaison, in an estimate of the number of births, deaths, and which might require to be registeredin the first year, calculated the number of births at 550,085, of deaths at 335,968, and of manages at 114,947. The ap proximation as to deaths is remarkable, and not less so the deficiency in the births and in some degree in the mar riages. The imperfection in the re gistration of births, which seems to have arisen partly from the opposition of in terested persons, partly from the erro neous notions of the ignorant, and partly from mere negligence, has since been in some degree remedied, but is still imper fect The registrar-general, in his 6th Re port, dated Aug. 10, 1844, states that four inspectors had been appointed to visit every district into which England has been divided, in order to examine into the mode in which the registrars perform their duties. These inspectors,
among other important directions given to them, are required to see " that the places of birth or death are accurately recorded ; that the ages and professions of those who die are duly registered; that exertions are used to impress upon per sons giving information of deaths the importance of producing a certificate of cause of death, in the hand-writing of the medical men who attended the deceased in their last illness," &c.
By the end of 1839 about 350 new register-offices had been built, and the use of temporary offices had been sanc tioned in many places. The ordnance office supplied iron boxes for holding the register books of each district. By the end of September, 1838, register books of births and deaths. and forms for certified copies thereof, bad been provided by the registrar-general for 2193 registrars of births and deaths ; and marriage register books, and forms for certified copies had been supplied to 11,694 clergymen of the established church, to 817 registrars of marriages, to 90 registering officers of the Society of Friends, and to 36 secretaries of Jewish synagogues. They are each required to transmit certified copies on ring a peculiar water-mark as a against the substitution of false entries, every three months, to the super intendent registrar of each district, who transmits, once a quarter, to the registrar general the certified copies of all the births, deaths, and marriages, which have occurred within the district during the preceding three months. These certified copies, having been deposited in the re gister-office in London, are there examined and arranged ; and alphabetical indexes are then formed and abstracts of them are compiled. In a few years millions o entries will have been made, and yet, for legal or other purposes, it will be as easy to find out the name of any individual from among so great a number as it is to find out a word in a dictionary or a cycloptedia.
The registration for 1839 was Births . 480,540 Deaths . 331,007 Marriages . 121,083 The improvement in the registration of births, as compared with that for 1838, is sufficiently obvious.
The registration for 1839-40 and 1840 41 is as follows: 1839-40. 1840-41.
Births . 501,589 . 504,543 Deaths . 350,101 . 355,622 Marriages . 124,329 . 122,482 The number of births not registered still amounts to some thousands annually, and the registrar-general is of opinion that " the registration of births will not be complete until it is enacted by law that the father or mother, or some other quali fied informant, shall give notice, within a fixed period, of a birth having taken place." A parliamentary paper gives the num bar of marriages, births, and deaths, re gistered in 1839, 1840, 1841, and 1842, as follows:— 1839. 1840. 1841. 1842.
Marriagea . 123,168 122,665 122,498 118,825 Births 492,574 502,303 512,518 517,739 Deaths . 338,979 359,634 343,847 349,519 For other details relating to registra tion of marriages in England, see Mere Bison.