Registrar

[Susan48]

An ancestor living in Little Clacton, Essex, entered his occupation on the 1911 census as Registrar of marriages. I wondered why he only mentioned marriages in his job description and did not include births and deaths. Perhaps there is no significance and he was simply aiming to be concise. In 1901 and 1891 he gave his occupation as School attendance officer.

 

[peter]

An ancestor living in Little Clacton, Essex, entered his occupation on the 1911 census as Registrar of marriages. I wondered why he only mentioned marriages in his job description and did not include births and deaths. Perhaps there is no significance and he was simply aiming to be concise. In 1901 and 1891 he gave his occupation as School attendance officer.

I think you will find that it was - and maybe still is - possible for someone to be a registrar of marriages without also being responsible for registering births and deaths. The legislation was separate and the roles are quite different.

 

[Susan48]

The legislation was separate and the roles are quite different.

I wondered about that, although it seems that today a registrar records births and deaths and also officiates at marriages and civil partnerships. An internet search did not bring up any information about separate legislation, but it would be interesting to know where to find it.

 

[peter]

An internet search did not bring up any information about separate legislation, but it would be interesting to know where to find it.

You could start with the Marriage Act 1836 and the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836.

 

[Stuart]

The East Essex Advertiser and Clacton News printed a page of information on the Clacton Urban District Council at the end of each year and, by chance, for 1900-1904 these are in the BNA . One items was a list of the members of the board of guardians, and in the one published on 21 December 1901 we find:


At around the same date, I also found a short news item saying that these two posts were governed by different legislation, with the result that a woman could be a registrar of births and deaths, but not of marriages.

 

[Susan48]

Many thanks for the information, Stuart. Walter Charles Bareham is my (very distant) ancestor. Interesting about women being eligible for the post of registrar of births and deaths.

 

[peter]

Interesting about women being eligible for the post of registrar of births and deaths.

You may recall that earlier this year I wrote about Mrs Pankhurst, who became a registrar of births and deaths in 1898.

I don't know what the justification was for barring women from becoming registrars of marriages, but the prohibition must have been removed by the time I got married!

 

[Sue_3]

I wonder if he had a role in a non-conformist church that enabled him to conduct marriages? If so he could have been an 'authorized person' (under the 1898 legislation) who could legally register the marriage?

 

[Susan48]

You may recall that earlier this year I wrote about Mrs Pankhurst, who became a registrar of births and deaths in 1898.

I do read the newsletters but can't claim to remember everything, I'm afraid.

I don't know what the justification was for barring women from becoming registrars of marriages

Perhaps it was because a registrar of marriages officiated at civil ceremonies. Clergy officiated at church marriages and were until recently men, and so only men were appointed as registrars of marriages.

 

[Susan48]

I wonder if he had a role in a non-conformist church that enabled him to conduct marriages?

He himself was baptised in an Anglican church, as were his children, so I think he was unlikely to have been a member of a non-conformist church.

 

[Stuart]

Looking at news reports, there are conflicting claims of the first female registrar of births and deaths being appointed. The earliest I found was Miss Mary Ann Lipscombe in Martley Union, Worcestershire, in 1874. By 1889 there were (reportedly) 31, in various places.

But I think it's a mistake to talk in terms of women being barred by the legislation. The Registration Act of 1836, for example, has "... and the Guardians shall appoint a Person, with such Qualifications as the Registrar General may by any general Rule declare to be necessary, to be Registrar of Births and Deaths within each District ...". Similar wording is used for registrars of marriage and even superintendent registrars (in charge of both kinds of registrar).

At the time there was a broad common understanding of what men and women did, and the question of whether the "person" appointed as registrar might be a women did not arise. At least, not for "right-thinking people"! That view changed slowly through the 19th century (and the 20th, of course), but to start with all the decisions were being made by men who were inside "the system".

It certainly was the celebration of civil marriages that was more difficult to accept as done by a woman. It was something priests (always men) were associated with, and more formal - less just an administrative act like registering. The first one I can find reported is Miss Hankin, in Bridlington, in July 1923. She was the daughter of a superintendent registrar, which may have made his appointing her a lot easier!

 

[Susan48]

She was the daughter of a superintendent registrar, which may have made his appointing her a lot easier!

And as Peter pointed out in his newsletter item on Emmeline Pankhurst (see #7 above), Emmeline took over the role of registrar of births and deaths on the death of her husband.

 

[ChalfontR]

I was a registrar 10 years ago, and my official title was "Deputy Registrar of Births and Deaths". I did get involved with marriages but not for some months after I started. There were also quite a number of marriage , or "ceremony" registrars who only did weddings and had no dealings with births and deaths at all.

 

[peter]

And as Peter pointed out in his newsletter item on Emmeline Pankhurst (see #7 above), Emmeline took over the role of registrar of births and deaths on the death of her husband.

Just to clarify, I wrote that she "took on" the role after the death of her husband. The phrase "took over" implies that her husband was the previous registrar - so far as I know he wasn't, he was a barrister. Mrs Pankhurst was previously a Poor Law Guardian (which I suspect was an unpaid role).

This Wikipedia page comments that "It was long unclear whether women were permitted to win election to boards of guardians.".

 

[Susan48]

It seems that Walter Charles Bareham of Little Clacton held the posts of Registrar of Marriages and School Attendance Officer at the same time. As Stuart reported in post #5 above, W C Bareham was Registrar of Marriages in 1901, and he gave that as his occupation in the 1911 census, although not in 1901. Several short newspaper items report on his School Attendance Officer duties around 1905, and the Little Clacton parish register entries for the baptism of his children between 1894 and 1907 give his occupation as School Attendance Officer.

 

[peter]

I'm not sure when the registrar roles become salaried positions, but I suspect it was around the middle of the 20th century.

 

[Stuart]

Having two - or more - official jobs was by no means unusual.

Both attendance officers and registrars were appointed by the Tendring Board of Guardians. The attendance officer, like the relieving officers, were paid by the board, but registrars lived off their fees. Quite what the various roles of the Registrar General, Superintendent Registrar, and guardians were in the appointment process is not entirely clear. That's especially so where the boundaries of the poor law union and districts didn't align, and kept changing as new housing was built.

The Tendring guardians had a lot of business in this regard from 1900 on. In 1900 the registrar for births and deaths lived in Thorpe-le-Soken, and was also the relieving officer (and vaccination officer and collector of the guardians). Note that the vaccination officer mentioned here was not the public vaccinator. That was a job for a doctor, while the officer looked after the paperwork and enforcement of the rules requiring vaccination.

Clacton Urban District Council started demanding their own registrar and and assistant relieving officer, and a complicated argument ensued. At one point the RG declined to divide the district, as compensation for loss of fee income would have to be paid, but if the post fell vacant he would think again.

And the incumbent did vacate the post in early 1902, to become relieving officer in Croydon, but the division didn't happen then. The guardians advertised the vacant posts of relieving officer, vaccination officer, collector of the guardians, and registrar of births and deaths, but made clear (if not explicit) that a single holder was expected. Payment was partly by salary but mainly by charging fees, with an estimated total of £175 pa. The fact that this would fall significantly if, as was expected, the extra posts were created, was known at the time.

The RG intervened before confirming the chosen candidate as registrar, so this Mr Folkard had to agree to this division. Then a new selection process was conducted for Clacton and St Osyth, and the post given to Morris Constable in October 1902.The next year Folkard was asking for a pay rise on the grounds that his salary as relieving officer was lower than others' because of his expected fee income.

Mr Constable died in 1904, and this time the guardians voted to appoint his widow, who had shown her competence by deputising in the interim. Note that she had been officially appointed as her husband's deputy and so was acting "according to the regulations", showing that this label of deputy registrar, or deputy to the registrar, was used in conflicting senses.

It's also worthy of note that the secretary to the board of guardians, Mr A J H Ward, was the Superintendent Registrar for Tendring district, as well as being a solicitor in Harwich. And, in 1900 the RG wrote to guardians suggesting that they "should,. as far as possible, allow their officers to act as enumerators as being likely persons to take an intelligent interest in the work, and see that the papers were filled up correctly."