The year of 1837 marked the beginning of reform within the process of registration of birth, death, and marriage. Prior to this, the Factory Act of 1833 meant to reduce the hours of working, young children was rendered more or less useless, as the lack of official records made it difficult to definitely pinpoint the age of people. Much of record-keeping fell on the Anglican church and had more to do with baptism, marriages, and burials. In one article examining this act, it is hypothesized that, “the religious rite of baptism was inextricably linked with the legal function of registration,” (Turvey). Essentially, baptism was viewed as a birth record, yet there were also pamphlets by clergy who stressed the difference between the two, thus leading to the beginning of this reform. The reform itself set up a registration of birth, death, and marriage at the General Register Office. Registrars were responsible for providing two certificates of birth, one kept at the office and one given to the person and were paid for producing them. Some of the responsibility, however, still fell on parish unions to help in the recording of these events. A quote by Thomas Lister in the article by Peter Turvey speaks to the success of the act, stating, “The register of births is less complete; but this is owing to the want of a clause in the Act to render the information of births imperative,” (Lister), which insinuates that the act needed furth reform (which it received through the 1900s).
This can be applied to Oliver Twist in the way in which the novel surrounds the concept of Oliver being an orphan through the discovery of Monks being his brother, Agnes being his mother, and Brownlow piecing together the story through his personal relation. The idea that the locket is proof of birth suggests a lack of record keeping, in which case much of the lack of knowledge of the inheritance may have been avoided.
Works Cited
Bloy, Marjie. “Victorian Legislation: a Timeline.” The Victorian Web, July 2014, www.victorianweb.org/history/legistl.html.
Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Knopf, 1992.
Turvey, Peter. “The History behind Your Birth Certificate.” Probate Genealogists & Probate Researchers Anglia Research Services Limited Established 1979, 2021, www.angliaresearch.co.uk/articles/the-history-behind-your-birth-certifi….
“Vital Registration and Marriage in England and Wales.” International Institute for Vital Registration and Statistics, Oct. 1979, unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/crvs/documents/IIVRS_papers/IIVRS_paper4.pdf.
(image sourced from "The History Behind your Birth Certificate" article by Peter Turvey) It is a depiction of the Somerset Registration Office.
