Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages (Army) Act, 1879

REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES (ARMY) ACT 1879

CHAPTER VIII.

An Act to make further provision for the Registration of Deaths, Marriages, and Births, occurring out of the United Kingdom among officers and soldiers of Her Majesty's Forces, and their families. [23rd May 1879.]

Short title.

1. This Act may be cited as the Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages (Army) Act, 1879.

Transmission to Registrar of registers of births, deaths, and marriages of army kept in pursuance of Her Majesty's regulations.

2. If Her Majesty is pleased from time to time to make regulations respecting the registration of deaths and births occurring and marriages solemnized out of the United Kingdom among officers and soldiers of Her Majesty's land forces and their families or any of them, the registers kept from time to time in pursuance of the said regulations shall, in manner provided by the regulations for the time being in force, be authenticated and transmitted to the Registrar General of Births and Deaths in England.

Where it appears from any such register that an officer or soldier whose death or marriage is entered therein, or to whose family a person whose death, marriage, or birth is entered therein belonged, was a Scotch or Irish subject of Her Majesty, the Registrar General of Births and Deaths in England shall, as soon as may be after receiving the register, send a certified copy of so much thereof as relates to such death, marriage, or birth to the Registrar General of Births and Deaths in Scotland or Ireland, as the case may require.

Every Registrar General of Births and Deaths to whom a register or certified copy of a register is sent, in pursuance of this section, shall cause the same to be filed and preserved in or copied in a book to be kept by him for the purpose, and to be called the Army Register Book, and such book shall be deemed to be a certified copy of the register book within the meaning of the Acts relating to the registration of births and deaths in England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively.

Provision as to existing documents evidencing deaths, marriages, and births among officers and soldiers of the army, and their families

3. Whereas, under the directions of Her Majesty, or of one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, or the Commander-in-Chief or other lawful authority, various documents, such as registers, muster-rolls, and pay lists have been kept, showing the deaths and births which have occurred and the marriages which have been solemnized among officers and soldiers of Her Majesty's land forces and their families:

And whereas it is expedient to make further provision respecting the said documents: Be it therefore enacted as follows:

Where any of such documents, or any certified extracts thereof made under the direction of one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, have either before or after the passing of this Act been transmitted to the Registrar General of Births and Deaths in England, such documents or extracts shall be deemed to be in the legal custody of the said Registrar General, and shall be admissible in evidence; and a copy of any such document or extract of, or any part thereof, if purporting to be certified to be a true copy under the seal of the register office of the Registrar General, shall be admissible in evidence of such document, extract, or part.

Saving as to births, deaths, and marriages in the United Kingdom.

4. Nothing in this Act shall apply to any deaths, marriages, or births which occur in the United Kingdom, except where the same occurred before the commencement of this Act.

[S. 5 rep. 57 & 58 Vict. c. 56 (S.L.R.)]