OVERSEAS BIRTHS MARRIAGES AND DEATHS OF BRITISH CITIZENS

From 1854 records of events had to be recorded in ships’ logbooks and when the ship docked at a British port, the information contained in the log was recorded by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen with periodic (and sometimes haphazard) returns of events made to the General Register Office.

Records of births, marriages and deaths at sea on British Royal and Merchant Navy vessels cover 1781 to 1972 as follows:

Maritime births (1854-1960)

Marriages (1854-1972) – logbooks only

Deaths (1781-1968)

These records also include events recorded in various documents held at the National Archives mainly from series ADM, BT, CO, FO and CUST. There are some years when records just do not exist. The images of registers of births, marriages and deaths at sea for the period 1854 to 1891 and in series BT 158, BT 159 and BT 160 at the National Archives are available via The Genealogist website.

The military and overseas births and baptisms are records held by both the General Register Office and The National Archive. They relate to birth records for families of military personnel, British Consul staff, individuals born at sea and British nationals working overseas.

If you have an ancestor who was born overseas and whose parents were British citizens at the time, then it is possible that the British Consul or the High Commission in the relevant country would have been informed of the birth, so the event would be recorded within the British registration system.

The armed forces' records includes serving personnel who were not British nationals who were overseas. The index also includes some regimental registers and chaplains' returns for births which took place in the British Isles in barracks, depots and garrisons.

Births of children of passengers, seamen and Royal Marines of both British and other nationalities which took place on British registered ships are included. Sometimes information about conditions surrounding the birth are also given.

Many registers for overseas Anglican chaplaincies are held by the Bishop of London or Bishop of Gibraltar archives. As early as 1633, the Bishop of London had responsibility for Anglican chaplaincies overseas where there was no local bishop.

In Europe, Anglican chaplaincies were established after the Reformation but the Bishop of London's jurisdiction over those in southern Europe ended with the creation of the Diocese of Gibraltar in 1842. The Bishop of London had responsibility for northern and central Europe chaplaincies until the 1980s. In 1980 a single diocese in Europe was created.

In North America the Anglican or Episcopal church was not under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London after American independence in 1776. The first Canadian Anglican bishop held office from 1787 and most other British colonies had bishops installed during the nineteenth century. Registers from these colonial territories are not part the Bishop of London's archives. For India the records of baptisms, marriages and burials relating to the British and their families are part of the Asia, Pacific and Africa collections at the British Library and can be viewed online using FindmyPast.

Records of overseas chaplaincies are either the original registers which were returned to England or comprise the equivalent of bishops' transcripts or transcripts or copies produced by various people.

Original registers

There are no existing registers before the eighteenth century; many are from the nineteenth century. Chaplaincies within the diocese in Europe are more up to date as registers are still being deposited, although some European chaplaincies hold their own registers. Some nonconformist baptisms, marriages and burials have been recorded in the registers of local protestant churches. It may also be worth searching the memorandum books for both the London and Gibraltar dioceses.

Indexes

The London Diocesan Registry has indexed their foreign registers and register transcripts but the index is arranged alphabetically by the first letter of the surname and then by place. It also appears to use the old references, but once the system is mastered, there should not be any problem in finding the information you require.

Marriage allegations

Although in the United Kingdom the diocese was the one of the issuing authorities for marriage licences, there are very few allegations in the overseas records because, outside the colonial territories, licences were not granted by the diocese. However, some do exist for areas of Gibraltar and the British Embassy in Paris.

There are various records generated by regiments covering these events. Regimental registers of births/baptisms, marriages and deaths of British soldiers and their families cover the period 1761 to 1924. The records also include events which took place in the United Kingdom, Ireland as well as overseas.

Separate to the regimental registers are the chaplains' returns of baptisms, marriages and burials which cover the period 1761 to 1880. These could duplicate records included in the regimental registers but were compiled by individual army chaplains. There are separate registers for the garrison stationed on the islands of Corfu (Ionian Islands) covering 1818 to 1864 when the islands were a British protectorate. Another series exists of army births, marriages and deaths between 1881 and 1965; these relate to British Army personnel and their families where an event took place overseas. 

In countries where there was a British Consul births, marriages and deaths could have been registered by the consuls between 1849 and 1994. However, registration in respect of events concerning British citizens was not compulsory, so some events may not have been recorded; a record could exist in the local registration system of that country where they existed at the time.  

Military and navy war deaths are indexed separately by the GRO and include conflicts between 1881 and 1965 for all branches of the services. For the Boer War, the index only lists army deaths, but thereafter the indexes for both World Wars includes all the services. In World War One the deaths in the Royal Flying Corp were actually recorded by the army because prior to 1 April 1918 the RFC was part of the army.

Information on the actual death certificates is often minimal containing only name, rank, service number, date, or presumed death date and place of death which may only be recorded as the theatre of war in which they were serving. The cause of death is also vague such as killed in action or even war service. In some respects it is not worth obtaining the death certificate as more information is usually available in the record of service, if it survives, or from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Local newspapers may also report deaths and often include circumstances which led to the death.