Primitive Methodist baptismal and burials registers from before Civil Registration 1837

Following the introduction of civil registration registers which were not those of a Church of England parish were collected and deposited with the Registrar General under the Non-Parochial Registers Act 1840. Further registers were surrendered to the Non Parochial Registers Commission of 1857. Since all the registers were transferred to The National Archives, they have been catalogued in three classes: RG4 containing the registers surrendered in 1840, RG5 includes the birth certificates from the Wesleyan Methodist Metropolitan Registry, and RG8 the registers surrendered in 1857.

Ninety-eight Primitive Methodist registers of baptism have survived, representing 66 Circuits and 31 individual chapels. The 1837 annual conference stationed ministers in 142 Circuits, which is an indication of how many early registers have not survived.
14,726 baptisms are recorded in those registers which were deposited. Six burial registers contain 1,198 burial records.

Twelve baptismal registers have been identified which have been digitised or transcribed by various genealogical organisations, but had not been surrendered. A further 1782 baptisms are recorded in these registers.

These registers are listed on the attached documents, with the Circuit registers indicated in bold.