The General Register Office (GRO) holds the national indexes to births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales, often called ‘Civil Registration’. The system started on 1 July 1837 as a result of the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1836. Initially there were no penalties for failing to register and significant numbers, particularly births (up to 15%), were not registered. A new 1874 Act tightened up a lot of the things that were wrong with the original legislation, including compliance issues.
Local registrars kept the records for their local areas (registration districts). They sent copies to the Registrar General for adding to the national register which was arranged by quarter (eg: January, February and March make up the March, or first, quarter) and then by surname.
The indexes have limited information, the quarter and year, the volume and page number and the district in which the event was registered, sufficient to order a birth, marriage or death certificate. Each registration district covers many parishes, Depwade District having in excess of 50. Over the years these parishes may have changed as reorganisations have taken place. Depwade District was created on 1 July 1837 but was abolished on 1 April 2011 when it was added to the Norfolk registration district, and having sub-districts of Diss, Forncett, Harleston, and Stratton.
Birth certificates usually show the date and place of birth, name and gender, names of parents (including mother’s maiden name), father’s occupation, name, description and address of informant, and the date of registration.
Marriage certificates usually show the date and place of marriage, forenames and surnames of bride and groom, ages of bride and groom (some giving ‘full age’ meaning 21 or over), abode of bride and groom, father’s name and occupation for both bride and groom, and names of witnesses.
Death certificates usually show the date and place of death, full name, age at death, occupation, cause of death, name, description and address of informant, and the date of registration.
Using the information from the entries found or the national indexes, copies of birth, marriage and death certificate can be obtained from several sources, usually at a cost.
In the 1911 Census, for married couples, in the notes there are the number of years of their present marriage, the number of children born of that marriage, the number still living.
Again, in the 1911 Census, the number of rooms in a dwelling will be in the notes for the head of the household - the number of rooms included the kitchen but excluded non-habitable spaces such as bathrooms, sculleries, closets, etc..
[Comments]: In some records there are details shown between square brackets. These are ‘comments’ by the transcriber and are not from the original document - the comments are not guaranteed correct.
