The evaluation of baptism as a form of birth registration through crossmatching census and parish register data: a study in methodology.

Abstract

Abstract A method of evaluating the accuracy of Anglican baptism as a form of birth registration during the period 1760–1834 is outlined and discussed in the light of the substantive application of the method to a sample of 45 parishes. The method fundamentally consists of comparing information in the 1851 Census with that in baptism registers for each individual parish. A first stage of the research tests an assumption that the 1851 Census is a reliable source of information on birthplace and age statements, and this is achieved primarily through comparisons of the 1851 and 1861 censuses for individuals in each parish. Subsequent research reported in the Appendix outlines a near-perfect method of testing this assumption: the comparison of 1851 census data with information about births collected under civil registration, which when applied to the parish of Kingston-on-Thames further confirms the reliability of 1851 census statements on birthplace and age. Having established this, an analysis of the underr...