Registration District - Witney

[dcwilkes]

I have now discovered some of my father's ancestors came from Witney Oxfordshire.
I have: George William Dipper born 1851 registration district 16 page 126.
Also his daughter Mary E Dipper born about 1876 registration district 3a page 672.

Question: Is this a mistake or does Witney have two districts - 16 and 3a?

Help please.

[Sue Mackay]

As I understand it, up until 1851 Roman numerals were used, and Arabic numerals followed by a letter after that.

The codes for Oxfordshire were XIV and 3a according to my 'Enquire Within' - so shouldn't the earlier reference be 14 - or are my Roman numerals worse than I thought!

Edit: SCRUB THAT LAST BIT! There is a misprint in my 'Enquire Within', which also lists XIV as the code for Lincolnshire. I have checked with GENUKI for Oxfordshire and the code was XVI until the end of 1851 and 3b thereafter.

[Peter Goodey]

Is this a mistake or does Witney have two districts - 16 and 3a?

Er...Witney is the name of the registration district.

The 3a and 16 that you mention are volume numbers - reflecting the internal filing system used by GRO.

Volume 16 does appear to be appropriate for 1851 and volume 3a for 1876.

FreeBMD has a table of district/volume mapping by year here...
https://freebmd.rootsweb.com/districts.html

and some introductory information about Districts, Volumes and Pages here...
https://freebmd.rootsweb.com/distvolpage.html

In most cases we don't need to worry about the significance of volume and page numbers - basically they're only there so we can order certificates.

[dcwilkes]

Cheers.That solves it. I knew two of my four Grandparents orininated in Oxfordshire and was suprised tonight when Witney reared its head. Right - I am now three quarters an oxford lad.
Super. Now I'll have a go at my Dipper line.

Don

[dcwilkes]

My Dipper line now reaches back to Phillip Dipper who married Athia (maiden name unknown) Phillip's birth is circa 1740.

Any details please? All will be useful.