Civil registration records

The collections of The Rothschild Archive include official civil registration (birth, marriage death) documents relating to members of the Rothschid family. These documents will be found in many parts of the collections of the Archive. They will be found in individual accessions, or as part of larger deposited collections known by the name of the place (often a Rothschild property) from which they were transferred, such as The Exbury Collection, The Rushbrooke Collection, The Ascott Collection etc. Such documentation has largely been either deposited or gifted to the Archive by members of the Rothschild family, or transferred to the Archive from the New Court vaults, where it had been retained amongst collections of family papers stored with the London bank.

Civil registration documentation

Before 1837 only churches recorded birth, marriage, and death information in England. In the early 1800s, Parliament recognised the need for accurate records for voting, planning, taxation, and other administrative purposes. Legislation was passed to create a civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths for England and Wales and, for registering the same for British subjects abroad. England and Wales registration began on 1 July 1837, and covered births, marriages, divorces and deaths. Separate legislation and records exist for events at sea, overseas and for those in the army.

Civil registration records of members of the Rothschild family

For civil registration records relating to a particular family member, please see The Guide entry for that branch of the family, and then under that person's name.

The Archive also holds a small number of collections of civil registration papers relating to more than one family member. Listed to the left here are collections of such documentation, largely transferred to the Archive from collections of family documents kept in the New Court vaults.

Access to private Rothschild papers 

Researchers should note that Rothschild family papers are subject to the Archive's conditions of access. Although records of the Rothschild business up to the date of 1945 are generally accessible to researchers, access to Rothschild family papers is at the discretion of the Archive, and special permission from donors and depositors may additionally be required to access all, or part, of family collections. All family papers later than 1945 are currently closed to researchers.