After 170 years and hundreds of thousands of births the registrars in Wolverhampton are finally putting down their pens.

From Monday, all new births will be registered on computers signalling the end of the registrars’ scrawl which has been used to record births in the city since 1837.

Jack Oliver Michael Price, who is four weeks old, was the last baby entered into the book at Wolverhampton Civic Centre. Staff said it was a sad day to see a great 170-year-old tradition finally coming to an end.

Jack’s father Christopher and mother Zoe Wall said they were pleased their son had made a little bit of history.

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After 170 years and hundreds of thousands of births the registrars in Wolverhampton are finally putting down their pens.

From Monday, all new births will be registered on computers signalling the end of the registrars’ scrawl which has been used to record births in the city since 1837.

Jack Oliver Michael Price, who is four weeks old, was the last baby entered into the book at Wolverhampton Civic Centre. Staff said it was a sad day to see a great 170-year-old tradition finally coming to an end.

Jack’s father Christopher and mother Zoe Wall said they were pleased their son had made a little bit of history.

Mr Price, aged 26, of Fordhouses, said: “It will be nice for him when he is older. I can show him that he was a bit of history.”

Jack was born in Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital on February 22.

The final entry into the famous book was made by assistant registrar Julia Mcaliece, who has performed the task for 28 years.

She said: “I am very sad, it is the end of a tradition and using computers won’t be quite the same.”

From Monday, details of births will be entered into a new national computer system and then printed off for a parent to sign.

A copy of the print out will be kept at the register office and an electronic record of the details will be transmitted directly to the General Register Office in Southport.

The new electronic system will also be used for registering deaths. Marriages will continue to be handwritten for now, but they are due to switch over later this year.