As it's approaching the festive season it's nice to see this old chestnut again!
The problem is that the ONS and its previous incarnations have not been
consistent in the advice they have given. It depends on which civil servant is
writing the reply and when.
In West Sussex we supply reader/printer copies from microfiche of post 1837
marriage registers. We last sought clarification on this issue in 1995. The
reply we received from what was then the OPCS was as follows:
"In these circumstances I do not think that if you were to decide to issue a
photocopy of a record which has been deposited with you, and which would
otherwise be held by Church incumbents, that we would want to intervene."
Moreover in the light of the recent ONS consultation document Registration :
modernising a vital service,in which the emphasis is very much on improving
access to information contained in the "historic" records, I think it even more
unlikely that the ONS would "want to intervene."
Richard Childs
County Archivist
West Sussex Record Office
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