When Queen Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837, many things in research received a boost. It was during her reign that England implemented comprehensive civic records about births, marriages and deaths. From July 1 1837 all persons who were ‘born, married and deceased’ would have the according records created.
With regards to our blog today, I’d been researching Thomas Hunt and his wife Mary of Ashford, Kent. Most of their children were born before the aforementioned 1837 civic registration and I didn’t have any marriage information to reveal Mary’s maiden name. The 1839 birth certificate of their daughter Elizabeth established Mary was an ‘Akhurst’! Such was the benefit of having an actual certificate!
