Births and baptisms: the use of Anglican baptism registers as a source of information about the numbers of births in England before the beginning of civil registration
Wrigley, E.A.
Population Studies 31(2): 281-312
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0032-4728 PMID: 11630511 DOI: 10.2307/2173919Document Number: 521768
A major reason why the difference between the number of baptisms recorded in Anglican registers and the number of births occurring was becoming greater was the increasing delay between birth and baptism. More and more children died before they had been baptized, or in circumstances which caused their baptism to go unrecorded. As long as burial registration was complete, estimates of the extent of the shortfall between births and baptisms may be made from a comparison of baptism and burial registers. When burial registration began to falter, indirect methods of estimating underregistration of births and deaths were used. Estimates are given of the changing levels of underregistration arising from this cause at half-century intervals between the late 16th and late 18th centuries. The exercise also brings to light evidence of the fluctuating level of infant mortality over the period and of changes in the relative importance of endogenous and exogenous mortality within the total infant mortality rate.