In 1497 Cardinal Ximenes introduced the registration of baptisms to his province of Toledo, then throughout western Europe. No doubt his aim was to check the growing scandal of wholesale divorces, disguised as decrees of nullity, based on the alleged spiritual kinship contracted at baptism between the baptised and his relatives, and the sponsors and their relatives. How far this notion had gone may be seen from such instances as that of John Hawthorn of Tunbridge, who was sentenced in 1463 to be whipped thrice round church and market for incest, i.e. for marrying as a second wife the god-daughter of his first. On 11 November 1563, the Roman Catholic church ordered the general keeping of baptismal and marriage registers.

Meanwhile in England, a raft of reforming measures was consolidating the split with Rome and the Reformation. Among these, on 5 September 1538, Thomas Cromwell, the Lord Privy Seal and the king's vicegerent, ordered that every parson, vicar or curate enter in a book every wedding, christening and burial in his parish, with the names of the parties. The entries were to be made each Sunday after the service, in the presence of one of the churchwardens. The parish was to provide a 'sure coffer' with two locks, the parson having custody of one key, and the wardens the other.

These earliest registers were generally made of paper, sometimes even loose sheets. On 25 October 1597 a provincial constitution of Canterbury, approved by the Queen in 1598, ordered that parchment registers should be purchased by each parish, and that all names from the earlier registers should be copied therein from the beginning, 'but especially since the first year of her Majesty's reign'. The reason why so many registers begin in 1558 is that many transcribers lazily complied with only the last part of the injunction, and omitted to copy the first twenty years of the original register. Register entries were still to be made on Sundays, now in the presence of both churchwardens, and a third lock was to be added to the parish chest, with each warden having the key to his own lock. Also, bishop's transcripts were established.

Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753 (26 Geo. III, c.33) came into force 25 March 1754, and ordered that records should be kept of both banns and marriages, and that these should be 'in proper books of vellum or good and durable paper' to be provided by the churchwardens. The entries were to be signed by the parties and to follow a prescribed form, and the registers were to be 'carefully kept and preserved for public use'. These Hardwicke marriage registers were the first registers to consist of bound volumes of printed forms. Until then, baptisms, marriages and burials usually used the same volume, sometimes each using separate pages, sometimes all mixed in together. Now, however, that register carried on with baptisms and burials alone. 

George Rose's Act of 1812, 'An Act for the better regulating and preserving Parish and other Registers of Birth, Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, in England' (52 Geo. III, c.146) was passed 28 July 1812, and stated that 'amending the Manner and Form of keeping and of preserving Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials of His Majesty's Subjects in the several Parishes and Places in England, will greatly facilitate the Proof of Pedigrees of Persons claiming to be entitled to Real or Personal Estates, and otherwise of great public Benefit and Advantage', and enacted that separate register books should be kept for baptisms, marriages and burials from 31 Dec. 1812. The king's printer was to supply each parish with a copy of the Act and three books printed on parchment or durable paper, each printed in conformity with the standard lay-out and numbered entries laid down by the Act.

As part of the 1831 census, enquiries were made of clergymen of the pre-1813 parish registers. The returns are now in the PRO (HO 71), and sometimes give reasons for recent losses of registers. 

A select committee reported on the 1831 returns in 1833, publishing an Abstract of the answers and returns made pursuant to an Act ... for taking an Account of the Population of Great Britain ...: Parish Register Abstract. The result of the report was further legislation in 1836, the Marriage Act (6&7 Will. IV, c.85) and the Births and Deaths Registration Act (6&7 Will. IV, c.86). These Acts came into force on 1 July 1837, and established the present system of civil registration.

Bishops transcripts

The bishop's transcripts (BT) were established in the Church of England by a constitution of 1597, codified by a canon of 1603. They are an annual return to the bishop of a copy of the parish register entries for the proceeding year. 

The dates covered by the BTs each year vary from parish to parish before 1812. Since then, they tended to standardise on 1 January to 31 December. Most parishes ceased sending marriages with their transcripts after July 1837.

Further reading
Cox, Parish registers of England (1910)
Tate, The parish chest (1951)