The civil registration system for births, marriages and deaths was introduced in England on 1st July 1837, and copies of the registers from each district sent every three months to the GRO (General Register Office).The registers can be inspected by the public and copies of the certificates obtained. The genealogical information they include is valuable to family historians.
If you are searching for a BMD before 1837 you will need to consult the Parish Registers, which can go back as far as 1538. Parish priests recorded baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish registers, and copies (bishops transcripts) from many parish registers were sent to the bishops, or archdeacons. In England many of the the parish registers and bishops transcripts can be inspected at the County Records Office, I spent many hours trawling through microfilms at my local office in Northampton looking for my ancestors. Some registers remain with the incumbent at the parish church, though you can make an appointment to view them.
Entries in the parish register contain names of people, dates of baptism, marriage and burials, and the names of some relatives, in the case of a burial the wife of a man who was buried, and the names of the parents of baptised children. There may also be recorded the occupation and place of residence of people marrying, being buried or having children baptised. Some incumbents also made "notes" beside an entry so extreme care should be taken when you are transcribing information from the registers, that you note everything from the particular entry as something that may seem insignificant at the time may become very valuable to you as your research progresses.
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