Any study of the demography of Victorian England and Wales must owe a substantial debt to the establishment in 1837 of a system of civil registration for births, deaths and marriages. This new system operated alongside the old ecclesiastical registration of baptisms, burials and marriages which had been in operation for 300 years. Although far from perfect, especially in its early years, civil registration had a number of important advantages over its ecclesiastical counterpart. First, it was concerned with the registration of vital events – births and deaths in particular – and not ecclesiastical ceremonies – baptisms and burials. Marriages were registered in both systems, but civil registration allowed for legal marriage outside the established church. Secondly, vital events were formally certified by the issue of birth, death and marriage certificates. Certification gave proof that the event had taken place, but it also allowed copies of the certificates to be assembled centrally, processed, filed and stored for future reference. Compared with the Anglican parish registers or the nonconformist registers, which were completed locally and retained in the parish or district, the national system of certification had very important advantages in terms of consistency of practice and ease of access.

Thirdly, civil registration required the creation of an effective system of local and national administration.