The evaluation of Bedfordshire burial registration, 1538-1851

This article is based mainly on a digital transcript of burials for 126 Bedfordshire parishes 1538-1851, and a county index of wills for the same period. The comparison of probate with burial register data indicated that there was little long-term change over time in burial under-registration, with between 21 and 27 per cent of will entries missing in the registers. There was also little variation between parishes of different population sizes, suggesting that burial under-registration was predominantly a random process linked to clerical negligence. A comparison of 1841 and 1851 census data, linked to the Bedfordshire burial database, revealed that missing burials amongst married couples was 29 per cent, similar to that found in the probate/burial register comparison in the 1840s. These findings on the adequacy of burial registers suggest that similar research on others counties will be necessary in order to establish reliable conclusions about England's population history.