England Nonconformist History Early Victorian Era (National Institute)

Victorian era (1830s-1901)
From 1832-1846 further legislation repealed most of the remaining anti-Catholic laws and Jews were granted political equality in the mid-19th century. An important current in the Church of England beginning in 1833 was the trend of High Church Anglicanism towards Roman Catholicism advocated by the Tractarians of the Oxford Movement led by John Newman, who did convert to Catholicism with several others. After this move towards High Church doctrine the Church of England was no longer perceived to be truly Protestant.

Civil Registration 1837
The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836 and Dissenters Marriage Act 1836 enabled a General Register Office to be set up. Now births and deaths could be registered outside of any ecclesiastical system, providing the legal records necessary to cite in court proceedings or job applications. And marriages by authorized Catholic and Nonconformist clergy in authorized buildings were legal provided a civil Registrar was also present to register the event. It took effect on 1stJuly 1837, whence inde Civil Registration indexes start at this time and civil marriages could also then be performed. Nonconformist marriages were recorded along with civil ones in the Registrar’s marriage book. From 1898 this requirement for supervision by the Registrar was lifted for most denominational buildings and so Non-Anglicans could use their own marriage registers from 1898. A full transcript from a register from the Channel Islands, which used the same system, plus extracts from other denominations are shown below.

Marriages by Non-Anglican Rites
Chart: Marriages by Non-Anglican Rites after 1837

Duplicate marriages occur and can be puzzling when noted in the indexes. In the GRO index for the September quarter of 1858 the following entries appear:


 * LOVEGROVE, Matilda St. George Southwark 1d - 189 PARGETER, George William St. George Southwark 1d - 189 and interlined as late additions: LOVEGROVE, Matilda Lambeth 1d - 524 PARGETER, George William Lambeth 1d - 524

The certificates show two separate marriages for the same couple on the same day, 28 August 1858, one by Anglican and the other by Catholic rites.

Non-Anglican Registers
Deposit of Non-Anglican Registers 1837 Registration Commissions were appointed in 1836, and again in 1857, to inquire into the state, custody and authenticity... of Registers or Records of Births or Baptisms, Deaths or Burials, and Marriages lawfully solemnized other than the Parochial Registers. In the early 19th century Nonconformists wanted their records to be considered on a par with Anglican ones as legal evidence of age and legitimacy and thus campaigned for authentication and central collection of their registers. They co-operated with the Registration Commissions of 1836 and 1857 and about 6,600 registers (Shorney) of Nonconformist congregations were given in to the Registrar General at the General Register Office accompanied by a declaration as shown below. Those deposited were inspected and if acceptable they were to be regarded henceforth as legal documents. The GRO transferred its holdings of nonconformist records to the Public Record Office in 1961. Most, if not all, of these registers have been filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah and the majority of the births or baptisms have been on the IGI (International Genealogical Index) for many years.

Chart: Declaration accompanying Deposit of Registers with Registrar General — RG4/4272 on

Registration Commission Questionnaire
The same type of form accompanied the registers of the Upper Street Independent Chapel, Islington, Middlesex and the attached questionnaire is shown below.

Chart: Registration Commission Questionnaire from Upper Street Independent Chapel, Islington, Middlesex-RG4/4342 on

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Non-Anglican Church Records offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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