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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 and their nationality and religion, father's occupation, date of 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 [httpMain article://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". '''Historical background'''<br>The history of civil registration in India dates back to the middle of the nineteenth century. It started with the registration of deaths with a view to introducing sanitary reforms for control of pestilence and disease and not so much for studying population trends.<ref name=name> [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&ct=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 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. Read the [[Registration of births and deaths in Calcutta|full transcript of page 147]]. Although Thacker says Act VI of 1864, it seems probable that it was in fact Act VI of 1863. <ref> The Corporation of Calcutta was constituted by Bengal Act No. VI of 1863 and was then constituted, as would appear from Section III of the Act, of 'Justices of the Peace for the Town of Calcutta', which meant all Justices of Peace for Bengal, Behar and Orissa, resident in the Town and all Justices of the Peace for the Town itself. The object of the Act was to vest the property of the Town of Calcutta and the management of its Municipal affairs in a Corporation and to make better provision for, inter alia, the conservancy and improvement of the Town. [http://indiankanoon.org/doc/782493 Kanoon] </ref> “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 of the twenty one sections into which the city is divided are checked by other returns from the sextons of the cemeteries and the clerks of the burning ghauts...In the Madras Presidency the death registration of births commenced in 1870..The mortuary registration was commenced in 1866... In the Bombay Presidency the registration of deaths was commenced in 1865. Birth registration has only just been commenced [c 1872]..” <ref> ']'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 1872-73''. Actual pages 125,126, computer pages 154,155</ref>

The Central Province of Berar introduced a system of Some birth and death registration did occur in 1866. Punjab and United Provinces followed a little later. In 1873, the Bengal Births and Deaths Registration Act was passed and was later adopted by the neighbouring states of Bihar and Orissa. It was, however, 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 of the Act by the foreigners, particularly Europeans and British residing in the country. A few states like Madras and Bengal had 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 states. In 1930, It commenced in the whole of India, Bengal 1860s but was the only province in which registration was compulsory both in rural and urban some areas. In Madras, registration was compulsory in all municipal towns and was later extended to all villages towns and was later extended to all villages with a population of 2000 and more. In Bihar and Orissa, other places adopting voluntary registration was compulsory only in some municipalities whereas in Punjab and the Central Provinces, it was compulsory in all municipal towns. In Bombay it was compulsory in nearly all municipalities while in Assam it covered all municipal towns The records are obtained from local Municipal Corporations, small towns, tea gardens and therefore researchers must know where a few towns of hill districtsbirth occurred. Generally, the officials Some people born in India pre 1947 have copies of the revenue, police or health departments were also made responsible for their birth registration. In municipal towns and cities Recent copies are known to have been obtained from the municipal authority was responsible for registration of vital events and this function was usually Shimla Municipal Corporation following a part of the duties of the health department. Health officials like sanitary inspectorvisit there, vaccinator and health assistant were made responsible for this work. The hospitals were required to report to the local Registrar in respect of events occurring therein. <ref name=name/>.  British Library Catalogue references for the Acts:*Act VI of 1863 (but it is not known whether these documents are generally available, or 1864) in Bengal Bills and Acts [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=059-lpj1-5&cid=1-5-1-2#1-5-1-2 IOR/L/PJ/5/99] how 1862-1864*Bengal Births and Deaths Registration Act 1873 (Bengal Act IV of 1873) in Bengal Bills and Acts [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/far back existing recordsgo.aspx?cat=059-lpj1-5&cid=1-5-1-2#1-5-1-2 IOR/L/PJ/5/107] 1872-1875*The Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Bill, 1886; with papers regarding registration of births [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=059-iorlpj_1-5&cid=1-1-2-34&kw=IOR/L/PJ/6/170#1-1-2-34 IOR/L/PJ/6/170, File 304 (also 323 & 260)] 9-24 Feb 1886*The Madras Registration Change of Births and Deaths Act, 1899 [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?catname by deed poll=059-iorlpj_1-14&cid=1-1-40-13&kw=IOR/L/PJ/6/511#1-1-40-13 IOR/L/PJ/6/511, File 1027] 11 May 1899 Copies Notice of Birth Registration entries<br>This India List [http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/INDIA/2009-12/1261288775 post] indicates that some records a change of European births name by deed poll may be obtained from possibly appear in the Birth Registers held by Indian authoritiesvarious official ''Gazettes'' published in India, and in newspapers generally. 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 As an example, a resident of births Calicut and deathshis wife changed their surname from Grosholz to Godfrey. This India British Raj List [httphttps://archiver.rootsweb.ancestryarchive.comorg/thdetails/read/INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ/2009-10/1256787241 post] also indicates the local municipality issues copies from the Birth Registers. This India List [http://archivergazette.rootswebstgeorge.ancestryTG1918.comTG1918JUN11/thpage/readn101/INDIAmode/2005-1up ''Fort St. George Gazette'' 11/1133193187 post] indicates that not many births may have been registered. The copies of Birth Registation entries mentioned in the India List posts were probably obtained many years ago. It is not known whether these same documents could be obtained todayJune 1918, or what time period is covered by records in existence in India. The Birth Registration system, which was only compulsory in some areas, always has been based on the local municipality , so it is necessary to know where a person was born before attempting to obtain records.  In other ares of India, which were not controlled by the British, births and deaths of British subjects were registered with the British Residents of various Native or Princely States. These records form the N/5 series of the Ecclesiastical Records. For details, 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/>