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*Tracing Your Roots > Caribbean > Life Events
* Civil Registration 
 
Civil Registration (central registration of births, marriages and deaths) was started at different times from the mid-19th century.

Anguilla
Antigua 1856
Bahamas 1931 (voluntary registration from 1802)
Barbados 1890 (births and marriages) 1925 (deaths)
Belize 1885
British Virgin Islands 1858
Cayman Islands 1885
Dominica 1861
Grenada 1866
Guyana 1869
Jamaica 1878 (voluntary registration between 1825-1844)
Montserrat 1862
Nevis 1862
St Christopher 1859
St Lucia 1869
St Vincent 1864
Tobago 1868
Trinidad 1848
Turks and Caicos Islands 1863 (voluntary registration from 1802)

Taken from Kuczynski, Demographic Survey of the British Colonial Empire

For information on the different registration legislation and practices see:

  • R.R. Kuczynski, Demographic Survey of the British Colonial Empire, volume 3, West Indian and American Territories (London: Oxford University Press, 1953; reprinted by August M Kelley, 1977)
  • General Register Office, Abstract of Arrangements Respecting Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths in the United Kingdom and other Countries of the British Commonwealth and in the Republic of Ireland (London: HMSO, 1952)
  • T.J. Kemp, International Vital Records Handbook , 4th edn (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., 2000)

Creators: Guy Grannum

 
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