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Civil Registration before church

  • 09-04-2019 10:12am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 69 ✭✭


    Can anyone tell me or give me an idea, why a child would be civilly registered before being baptised ? My G, GranUncle was civilly registered on the 8th of October 1865 but was only baptised on the 22nd of October according to the parish records.
    Thank you in advance :)

    Forgot to add that he was registered with a different name than the one he went on to be baptised with


Comments

  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,609 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    First, are you sure it's the same person?

    Common thing with names is that the civil might only have one but baptism has 2. An ancestor of mine was registered with one name and has two (legal name as middle name) on baptism. We were told this was because her first name wasn't a saint's name.

    Are they Protestants? They generally waited a lot longer to baptise.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Registered Users Posts: 591 ✭✭✭Garlinge


    After 1864 it was a legal requirement to register births, marriages and deaths and within a time period of the event. Baptism was just a religious ceremony welcoming the new child into the religion of its parents. With marriage, the church acted as a registrar of the event and passed on information to the authorities.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,609 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    While the above is true, the parents would have placed MUCH MORE emphasis on the baptism than the birth registration and people were still getting used to the new system in 1865 (and indeed for many years after).

    Also does the parish record give a DOB as well as a date of baptism?

    Genealogy Forum Mod



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