What are Birth, Marriage and Death (or BMD) records?
The formal recording of birth, marriages and deaths in England and Wales by the Government began on 1st July 1837 with the introduction of civil registration. Civil registration in Scotland started in 1855 but we don’t have these records available to search. Before civil registration, each individual parish was responsible for maintaining their own parish register with baptisms, marriages and deaths. With civil registration, when an event was registered a certificate was given to the individual who registered the event and the information was kept on file. A summary register, or Index, of all the events was created allowing someone to order replacement or copies of certificates. As in books, the Indexes won’t tell you everything, but will give you key information, such as names, dates (specifically, quarters) and places (the district the event occurred).
