Index of Registered Births 1821 - 1901

References

Births are recorded in Register Books at the various Registry Offices. Copies are forwarded to the Registrar General, on a quarterly basis, where they are recorded in separate Volumes for each office and indexed in a general index. The pages of each Volume(s) are numbered and it is these page numbers which are recorded in the general index. As the Volumes at the General Registry contain a maximum of 10 births on each page, it is simple matter to obtain the relevant details given the Volum name and page number.

Sources

The general index is available for public inspection at the the office of the Registrar General in Douglas. In addition, the LDS have filmed the index up to 1964.

In addition to the general index the LDS have also filmed the actual Registrar Volumes up to the year 1900/1. It is these films that have been used to prepare this index.

Prior to March, 1849, there was no means of registering a birth with the Civil Authorities. From March, 1849 to March 1878 (when Civil Registration became mandatory) Civil Registration was voluntary. The Marriage Act of 1849 provided for the Civil Registration of Marriages which, of course, required the establishment of the Registrar General's office. From this time the Registrar also accepted the voluntary Civil Registration of Births and also accepted the retrocative registration of births that were authenticated by entries in the Registers of Dissenting Churches. This resulted, for example, in some Ramsey births being recorded in Douglas.

Illegitimacy

A few births are explicitly marked as illegitimate in the registers and are indicated with an asterisk * in this index. However, there are many cases where no father's name is given in the record and it is assumed that these also are illlegitimate births. In these cases the birth is indexed here under the mother's surname.

It was normal practice to record only the child's forenames in the column headed "Name if any" in the record book. Many second forenames are obvious surnames recording either the mother's family or other antecedants. In a few cases where no father's name has been recorded a surname is recorded in the "Name if any" column which is different from the mother's surname. It is not clear from the records whether this was how the child was registered but it may be a hint towards the missing father.

Certificates

A copy of a birth, marriage or death certificate is avialable from the Registrar General, Deemsters Walk, Bucks Road, Douglas. Give them as much information as possible. For full details see their web site at

A birth certificate will provide the following details:

the date of registration.

The above details are available only for registered births.