How the Registration Districts are organised
For more information
about the records themselves, see About Old Records.
Organisation
of Registration Districts
In 1831, England and Wales were divided into registration districts, which formed the division upon which the schemes of
general registration and census enumeration were based. From 1837, when the general registration of births, marriages and
deaths was introduced, each district was allotted a numeral. Until 1851 Roman numerals were used; in 1851 the boundaries
of the districts were redrawn, and they were renumbered using Arabic numerals. They remained unchanged until 1946.
County
Record Offices
Each county in England, Scotland
and Wales has its own County Record Office or CRO.
Today this is were parish records can be found; arranged by church, parish, village, town or city.
Around 350 different parishes in Oxfordshire alone. This gives you an idea of the size of the task to
search by hand through each parish register for births, marriages and then deaths. Most registers, especially the
newer ones have transcripts or copies of the orginal, neatly typed.
GLRO
The Greater London Record Office has an extensive array of records including parish
records, bishops' transcripts, and other records relating to persons, places and
institutions within the former counties of London and Middlesex. There are collections of
maps, prints and drawings and a library of old photographs. The GLRO is located at 40
Northampton Road, London, England, EC1R 0HB.
City of London Parishes
Since each parish within the City of London comprises at most a few streets, the parishes
are known primarily by the name of the church, and not by the location.
However, many of the dedications occur frequently in the City, in which case the full name
of the parish contains some other identifying information, such as street name or location
relative to some landmark.
If you are looking for a London parish known primarily by a place name, you can be sure it
is not in the City of London, but in some other part of the metropolitan area. If it's
north of the Thames, look in Middlesex. If it's south of the river, it is probably in
Surrey, or else in Kent.