Good evening. I was wondering if anyone can throw light on my husband's great grandfather, William Sandland. William's baptism was recorded as being in January 1840,Whitchurch,parents, Robert and Maria Sandland. I know that official birth registration started towards the end of 1837 but I cannot find a birth entry for William, its siblings after him are registered but no sign of him. I want to order the birth certificate but cannot due to no matches. Thank you. Carybeth 
Although official registration started in 1837, people weren't fined for non registration until much later. A lot of people were confused and believed that a baptism was the same thing, so didn't register their child.
"In the early days of the system, it was up to each local registrar to find out what births, marriages and deaths had taken place in his sub-district. It has therefore been estimated that only about 50-60% of births, both legitimate and illegitimate, were registered as parents were not legally obliged to inform the registrar. It has been estimated that in some parts of England up to 15% of births were not registered between 1837 and 1875" From Wikipedia
