Changes

These ‘Vital Records’ include not only '''Births, Marriages and Deaths''' but more particularly in India, '''Baptisms/Christenings, Marriages and Burials'''. There was no general some registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths (BMDs) in British India, commencing in 1864 in Calcutta but see belowgenerally it was voluntary.

Also consider the following: * a person may have been baptised with a certain Christian name, but been known by a completely different name, either for their whole life, or for various periods. * a second marriage may be bigamous* the birth mother may not be correctly stated in a baptismal record.* a person who had been widowed may be described as a Bachelor/Spinster on a 2nd marriage record ==FIBIS resources==* [http://fibis.ourarchives.online/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=list_sources&source_class= Ecclesiastical 277 Births Outside India]* [http://fibis.ourarchives.online/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_class&id=241&s_id=0 Ministers and missionaries] * [http://fibis.ourarchives.online/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=964&s_id=0 Mixed Original Records] provided by Malcolm Speirs * [https://fibis.ourarchives.online/custom/death_cat_search.php Deaths and burials]** Bengal burial records ** Bombay burial records ** Burials Outside India ** Chandernagore Civil Death Registration Index ** Madras burial records (‘N’ Series in the * [https://fibis.ourarchives.online/custom/marriage_cat_search.php Marriages]** Bengal Marriages ** Bombay Marriages ** Chandernagore Civil Marriage Index ** Madras Marriages ** Marriages outside India ** Registry Office Records) Marriage Indexes ** St Helena Banns of Marriage * [https://fibis.ourarchives.online/custom/birth_cat_search.php Births and Baptisms]** Baptisms Outside India ** Bengal Baptisms ** Bombay Baptisms ** Chandernagore Civil Birth Registration Index ** Madras Baptisms  Births Marriages and deaths announced in Newspapers and periodicals are also included in above generalised database categories. For more details and direct links to individual periodicals covered see see [[Domestic Occurrences]] == Ecclesiastical records ==

The [[East India Company]] established and paid for Anglican dioceses and parishes in all areas as they came under its control. Each chaplain/parish priest minister was required to establish registers in which to record BMDs. In addition, he had to send duplicates to the presidency ecclesiastical authorities, and for later periods to the relevant Registrar-General of Births, Death and Marriages.<ref> A 1929 Marriage Register return from the RC Chaplain in Quetta, Baluchistan was sent to the Registrar-General of Births, Death and Marriages in Baluchistan and was then forwarded to the Secretary of State for India. See marriage record for [https://search.findmypast. co.uk/record?id=BL%2FBIND%2F005137750%2F00335&parentid=BL%2FBIND%2FM%2F139525%2F1 Arthur James Moore] Must be signed in to Findmypast to view.</ref> The latter have been collated and sent to London and are now in the care of the [[India Office Records]] at the [[British Library]] in their Asia, Pacific Asian & Africa Collections African Studies Reading Room ([[APAC]]). Ministers, priests and missionaries who were not employed by the East India Company were not obliged to send these returns, however some did so on a voluntary basis but these records are available to a lesser extent.

Marriages conducted by the Registrar, which commenced in 1852, are included in the India Office ‘N’ series (N/11). A complete transcription of the indexes to these records is included in the [http://wwwfibis.search.fibisourarchives.org/frontisonline/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=list_sources&source_class=102 FIBIS Search] section of this website.

Unfortunately, The Registrar Marriages records are included in the LDS have not filmed these digitised records so they may only be viewed at available on the commercial site [[British LibraryFindmypast]].

==Records on the LDS Family Seach Search website==

'Domestic Occurrences' was a section found in many periodical publications detailing birth, marriage and death announcements. It is easy to search these records in the digitized digitised versions of newspapers, journals and directories that are available online. FIBIS has a wealth of transcribed resources.

[[The National Archives]] hold some records that may be useful in tracing a BMD outside of the United Kingdom. For more help see TNA’s brief guide [httphttps://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/gettingstartedhelp-with-your-research/lookingresearch-guides/birth-marriage-death-forsea-or-personabroad/bmdatseaorabroad.htm "Looking for records of a birth, marriage or death of a British national deaths at sea or abroad"] or the books ''Tracing Your Ancestors in The National Archives'' by Amanda Bevan (7th edn, National Archives Kew, 2006), including chapter 8, "Births, marriages and deaths of Britons overseas or in the armed services" and ''The British Overseas, A Guide to Records of Their Births, Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths and Burials Available in the United Kingdom'' by Geoffrey Yeo (London, 3rd edition 1995). Both are available at  There is reference in the main article to some other sources of overseas records such as the [[British Library]]London Metropolitan Archives.

==Birth and Death Registrationdeath registration==Some registration of births occured, particularly during the twentieth century, although there is evidence of earlier practice. These records do not frequently appear in the India Office Records. As the the British Library's page on [http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/asia/india/indiaofficerecordsfamilyhistory/ecclesiastical/eccrecords.html Ecclesiastical Records] explains, “registration of births was not compulsory and very few are entered in the records. Registrations do not generally appear until the 1920s. Entries show date and place of birth, child's name, parents' names Main article: [[Birth and their nationality and religion, father's occupation, date of death registration.” An example of European children entered in the Birth Register, appearing in the Ecclesiastical Records at the British Library, is given in this India List [http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/INDIA/2009-12/1260877078 post].  Based on her own experience, Sylvia Murphy advised: "Within the general set of copies of presidency ecclesiastical records, is also to be found evidence that some British Subjects actually registered their children’s births. These are identified by the use of forms headed ]''Office of the Marriage Registrar, Calcutta' (for example), and although a baptism date is given, there is no Church name included to show where the child may have been baptised. It may be the case that such entries reflect births and baptisms of children whose parents belonged to a non-conformist denomination which did not make its own returns to the India Office. Other indications of Birth Registration occur in the 1940s and after independence. Lists of names and dates of birth of infants registered are to be found at least in the N/3 (Bombay) ecclesiastical returns for this period, but no detailed copies of actual registration information are available. Presumably these have been retained in the office(s) of the Registrar(s) in India".

This Some birth and death registration did occur in British India List [http://archiver.rootsweb It commenced in the 1860s but was only compulsory in some areas, with other places adopting voluntary registration.ancestry.com/th/read/INDIA/2009-12/1261288775 post] indicates that some The records of European births may be are obtained from the Birth Registers held by Indian authorities. This [http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/india/2007-07/1184123043 post] indicates that the local municipality is the body responsible for such registers of briths and deathsMunicipal Corporations, therefore researchers must know where a birth occurred. This Some people born in India British Raj List [http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ/2009-10/1256787241 post] also indicates the local municipality issues pre 1947 have copies from the Birth Registers. '''Historical background'''The history of civil their birth registration in India dates back . Recent copies are known to have been obtained from the middle of the nineteenth century. It started with the registration of deaths with Shimla Municipal Corporation following a view to introducing sanitary reforms for control of pestilence and disease and visit there, but it is not so much for studying population trendsknown whether these documents are generally available, or how far back existing records go. <ref>[http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:ZWzg9rOf7y4J:gvmc.gov.in/ph/handbook/civil.doc+bengal+Births+and+Deaths+Registration+Act+1873&cd=112&hl=en&ctChange of name by deed poll=clnk&gl=au Handbook on Civil Registration. Office of the Registrar General India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi by P. PADMANABHA Registrar General, India March 7, 1981: Chapter 2, Historical background] [http://gvmc.gov.in/ph/handbook/civil.doc. Original link] </ref>  Thacker's 1865 ''Bengal Directory'', on page 147, states "Registration Notice of Births and Deaths under Section 94 of Act VI of 1864...Registration of Births and Deaths took effect from 1st April 1864." [[Calcutta]] was divided into 6 districts. “Registration was first introduced into Calcutta in 1864, and neglect was rendered penal. Birth registration is now fairly correct and the mortuary returns received from each police inspector a change of the twenty one sections into which the city is divided are checked name by other returns from the sextons of the cemeteries and the clerks of the burning ghauts...In the Madras Presidency the registration of births commenced in 1870..The mortuary registration was commenced deed poll may possibly appear in 1866... In the Bombay Presidency the registration of deaths was commenced in 1865. Birth registration has only just been commenced [c 1872]..” <ref> various official ''House of Commons Papers: Accounts and Papers: East India (progress and condition). Statement exhibiting the moral and material progress and condition of India, during the year 1872-73Gazettes''. Actual pages 125,126, computer pages 154,155</ref> The Central Province of Berar introduced a system of birth registration published in 1866. Punjab and United Provinces followed a little later. In 1873India, the Bengal Births and Deaths Registration Act was passed and was later adopted by the neighbouring states of Bihar and Orissain newspapers generally. It was, howeverAs an example, only in 1886 that a Central Act- the Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Act- was placed on the Statute Book to provide for voluntary registration throughout British India. This Act was not to affect any law on the subject already in force or which might be passed subsequently for any particular local area and therefore had only limited force. Advantage was taken resident of the Act by the foreigners, particularly Europeans Calicut and British residing in the country. A few states like Madras and Bengal had his wife changed their own specific Act (Madras registration of Births and Deaths Act 1899 and Bengal Births and Deaths Registration Act 1873) which had been adopted by a few other statessurname from Grosholz to Godfrey. <ref>[httphttps://74archive.125.155.132org/search?q=cache:ZWzg9rOf7y4J:gvmc.gov.in/ph/handbookdetails/civilgazette.doc+bengal+Births+and+Deaths+Registration+Act+1873&cd=112&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au Handbook on Civil Registrationstgeorge. Office of the Registrar General India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi by PTG1918. PADMANABHA Registrar General, India March 7, 1981: Chapter 2, Historical background] [http:TG1918JUN11/page/gvmc.gov.inn101/phmode/handbook/civil1up ''Fort St.doc. Original link] </ref>  Births and deaths of British subjects were registered with the British Residents of various Native or Princely States in India. These records form the N/5 series of the Ecclesiastical Records. For detailsGeorge Gazette'' 11 June 1918, refer [[Princely States#British Library APAC records|Princely States - British Library N/5 records]page 948 (digital page 101)]Archive. ''If you are able to provide more information on how widespread birth registration was, and to what extent records are available in India, please update this articleorg.''===Notes===<references />

*[[CemeteriesNewspapers]]*[[Society of Genealogists]]*[[National Army Museum]]*[[Ahmadabad]] for a series of images from FamilySearch "India, Gujarat Diocese Protestant Church Records, 1854-2012"*[[Kirkee]], for digitised pages from the registers from All Saint's Church, Kirkee*[[St. Helena]], for digital images from registers for Banns of Marriage [1849-1924].*[[Passport applications in India]]. A listing available from the Assam State Archives contains dates of birth (limited periods). ==External links==*[http://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=2114&id=201071 findmypast]*[http://www.deedpoll.com/tracing-a-change-of-name.htm Tracing a Change of Name by Deed Poll in the UK] deedpoll.com . Some records are available at [[The National Archives]]. It is often the case that a proof of name change either never existed or no longer does.*[https://www.gov.uk/search-local-archives Locate a local Archives] England and Wales only. gov.uk. If a person has returned or immigrated to the UK, a local Archive may be a source of local newspapers for funeral or other information, local electoral registers etc. (Some electoral registers are available online on Ancestry, [[findmypast]] etc).*[http://www.history.ac.uk/gh/marrlic.htm Marriage Licence Records (Allegations and Bonds) at Guildhall Library] This is a brief introduction to searching for records relating to the issue of marriage licences, with particular reference to those concerning the City of London and former county of Middlesex. Licences were issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other Bishops, and the records are called Marriage Allegations or Bishops’ Marriage Allegations. These records have been transferred to the London Metropolitan Archives and are now available online on the pay website Ancestry.:'''Update''' July 2017. findmypast has added a database of transcribed indexes called "London Marriage Licences 1521-1869" which is taken from the book of the same name, published 1887 available on [https://archive.org/details/londonmarriageli00fost Archive.org]*[http://www.archives.com/blog/genealogy-help/second-cousins-and-removed-cousins-difference.html Second Cousins and Removed Cousins: What's the Difference] by Amy Johnson Crow October 16, 2013 www.archives.com*[http://www.dglenn.org/defs/daysymbols.html Symbols For Days Of The Week]. dglenn.org. These symbols are sometimes seen in baptismal, marriage and burial entries, generally in older church records to c 1700.==References==<references/>