Marriage registrations

[Richard Smith]

It's quite common for a birth or death to be registered several days or
even weeks after the event, especially in the early days of civil
registration. Is the same possible for a marriage? I've always assumed
that the registration happened on the day of the marriage, at the
signing of the registers. Is that necessarily the case? Specifically,
if I find a marriage listed in the GRO index for Q2 of a given year, can
I safely assume the marriage happened in April, May or June, and it's
not a late registration of a marriage that occurred in March?

Richard

[Steven Gibbs]

Post by Richard Smith
It's quite common for a birth or death to be registered several days or
even weeks after the event, especially in the early days of civil
registration. Is the same possible for a marriage? I've always assumed
that the registration happened on the day of the marriage, at the
signing of the registers. Is that necessarily the case? Specifically,
if I find a marriage listed in the GRO index for Q2 of a given year, can
I safely assume the marriage happened in April, May or June, and it's
not a late registration of a marriage that occurred in March?

I've got over 15,500 transcribed Bedford marriages in my database, all
cross-checked against the GRO index. I don't now remember whether any
were registered in a later quarter, but if there were some, the numbers
would have been trivially small. But, with GRO indexes, there is always
a tiny chance of a clerical error somewhere down the line.

Steven

[john]

Post by Steven Gibbs

Post by Richard Smith
It's quite common for a birth or death to be registered several days or
even weeks after the event, especially in the early days of civil
registration.  Is the same possible for a marriage?  I've always assumed
that the registration happened on the day of the marriage, at the
signing of the registers.  Is that necessarily the case?  Specifically,
if I find a marriage listed in the GRO index for Q2 of a given year, can
I safely assume the marriage happened in April, May or June, and it's
not a late registration of a marriage that occurred in March?

I've got over 15,500 transcribed Bedford marriages in my database, all
cross-checked against the GRO index. I don't now remember whether any
were registered in a later quarter, but if there were some, the numbers
would have been trivially small. But, with GRO indexes, there is always
a tiny chance of a clerical error somewhere down the line.
Steven

If you think there is a good chance it is an error you would need to
check the original certificate rather than the indexes. The indexes were
created quarterly when the local registration returns were sent in.

[Richard Smith]

Post by Steven Gibbs

Post by Richard Smith
It's quite common for a birth or death to be registered several days or
even weeks after the event, especially in the early days of civil
registration. Is the same possible for a marriage? I've always assumed
that the registration happened on the day of the marriage, at the
signing of the registers. Is that necessarily the case? Specifically,
if I find a marriage listed in the GRO index for Q2 of a given year, can
I safely assume the marriage happened in April, May or June, and it's
not a late registration of a marriage that occurred in March?

I've got over 15,500 transcribed Bedford marriages in my database, all
cross-checked against the GRO index. I don't now remember whether any
were registered in a later quarter, but if there were some, the numbers
would have been trivially small. But, with GRO indexes, there is always
a tiny chance of a clerical error somewhere down the line.

Thanks. That's exactly the sort of reply I hoped someone would be able
to give.

Richard

[David Marshall]

Post by Steven Gibbs

Post by Richard Smith
It's quite common for a birth or death to be registered several days or
even weeks after the event, especially in the early days of civil
registration.  Is the same possible for a marriage?  I've always assumed
that the registration happened on the day of the marriage, at the
signing of the registers.  Is that necessarily the case?  Specifically,
if I find a marriage listed in the GRO index for Q2 of a given year, can
I safely assume the marriage happened in April, May or June, and it's
not a late registration of a marriage that occurred in March?

I've got over 15,500 transcribed Bedford marriages in my database, all
cross-checked against the GRO index. I don't now remember whether any
were registered in a later quarter, but if there were some, the numbers
would have been trivially small. But, with GRO indexes, there is always
a tiny chance of a clerical error somewhere down the line.

Thanks.  That's exactly the sort of reply I hoped someone would be able
to give.
Richard

Note that this specifically applies to GRO marriages. Scottish marriages
are typically registered two or three days after the marriage took place.
David

[unknown]

+ User FidoNet address: 1:124/5016
Richard wrote:
R> From: Richard Smith <***@ex-parrot.com>
R>
R> It's quite common for a birth or death to be registered several days or
R> even weeks after the event, especially in the early days of civil
R> registration. Is the same possible for a marriage? I've always assumed
R> that the registration happened on the day of the marriage, at the
R> signing of the registers. Is that necessarily the case? Specifically,
R> if I find a marriage listed in the GRO index for Q2 of a given year, can
R> I safely assume the marriage happened in April, May or June, and it's
R> not a late registration of a marriage that occurred in March?

Maybe you can provide more details on the marriage or order the certificate
via the GRO so you'll know the exact date. Some are online if enough details
are known.
--
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ The FidoNet News Gate (Huntsville, AL - USA) +
+ The views of this user are strictly his or her own. +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++