From LFHHS
From Steve Benson
Dear All,
There is a petition on line to make historic BMD registers available. The organiser Guy Etchells is asking us to seek support from our membership.
Have a look at the petition and see what you think.
It needs a lot more signatures if it is going to succeed - only 5729 have signed up as at today. It needs at least 100,000 before 25/03/15 to cause any Parliamentary action.
Would you like to help ?
Steve Benson
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/62779Petition to open historic registers
Responsible department: Home Office
We ask that historic birth marriage & death registers be open to public inspection at county record offices or the National Archives
Until 1973 registers of BMD held at superintendent registrar’s offices were open to public inspection
Today’s technology available allows the registers to be digitized and made available as facsimile copies protecting the original from damage
Commercial concerns are willing to scan the registers and make them available online under licence at no cost to the public purse
A new accurate index of BMDs could be compiled by volunteers thereby complying with the 1836 legislation for the first time in 177 years.
The benefits include taking pressure off Superintendent Registrars and the GRO enabling them to concentrate on the core task of recording & administering current registrations.
Revenue would be created for the County Record Offices or the National Archives swelling the government coffers. All at no cost to the taxpayer or government.
Number of signatures:
5,729
Created by: Guy Etchells
Closing: 25/03/2015 09:15
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