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 If you have just started researching your family tree,
Simon Fowler has some sound advice in this and other articles in
our ancestors series.
Simon is editor of
Ancestors Magazine
published in association with The National Archives. He is an
experienced writer and lecturer regularly giving lectures at the
Society of Genealogists. His latest book
Military History on the Internet has just been published by
Pen & Sword
Ancestors is the Family History
Magazine from the National Archives click
for the special offer they are making to laterlife visitors
Birth, marriage and death records
On 1 July 1837 the government introduced a centralised way of
registering births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales.
The system hasn’t changed much since then. If you have ever
registered a marriage, the birth of a child or death of a loved
one then you are following in the footsteps of generations of
people before you.
The information given to the local registrar is recorded in
local registers with a copy sent to the central General Register
Office (GRO). From these registers the GRO supplies
certificates. The certificates contain a copy of the register
entry.
Certificates are a very important source. For a start they are
the official proof of a birth, marriage or death. They are
expensive, but well worth the money as they contain lots of
clues which can tell you more about your family, as well as
helping you go back to previous generations.
At present there is no access to the original registers but
there is a project to put them online. Unfortunately I
understand that it is very behind schedule (as at January 2008).
The information from the registers allows the GRO to prepare a
central index, which until recently was publicly available in
rows and rows of large, bound volumes originally at Somerset
House and more recently the Family Records Centre.
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The index, but not the certificates themselves, is now available
online on various commercial websites, such as
www.findmypast.com ,
www.bmdindex.co.uk
and
www.familyrelatives.com , but the most useful site is
www.freebmd.org.uk ,
which as the name suggests is free. It is both easier to use and
more informative, although it is not yet complete.
The information provided in the indexes is pretty minimal:
normally the name of the person plus the registration district
where the event took place and the volume and page number. You
need to note down all this information to order a certificate.
From 1911, birth indexes have included the maiden name of the
mother. And from 1912 the marriage index also includes the
surname of the spouse, so it becomes much easier to find
marriages.
It is important to remember that there are quarterly indexes,
usually known as March (for events registered between January
and March), June, September and December.
Once you have identified the person you are interested in, you
can order the appropriate certificate. You can do it online from
links on the commercial websites (but not FreeBMD), at
www.gro.gov.uk/gro/
content/certificates or by phone, 0845 603 7788.
Certificates cost £7 each (£8.50 if you order by phone) or £10
(£11.50) if you do not have the full reference.
You can also order certificates from local registry offices.
There are many advantages to doing this – the staff usually have
more time to help enquirers and the registers themselves are
more accurate - but you need to know exactly where the event
took place. Indexes to some local registers are available
online, and good place to start is
www.ukbmd.org.uk .
If you want to know more about certificates and how they were
kept then you should visit Barbara Dixon’s website
www.dixons.clara.co.uk
/Certificates/indexbd.htm .
Next month
How to get the most out of certificates; as well as civil
registration in Scotland and Ireland.
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One of my ancestors is missing
I’m often asked why people’s ancestors are
missing from the registers. Here are some tips to
help you:
1. Before 1874, registration was not compulsory.
However, all the evidence shows that the
overwhelming majority of people did register births,
marriages and deaths.
2. The registers themselves are not always
accurate (those kept by local registrars are
better).
3. There are pages missing from the microfilmed
set of the registers, which the commercial websites
used for their indexes. FreeBMD has indexed directly
from the original registers.
4. Check all the variations of name. Often an
official misheard the name or the family themselves
spelt it in a different way to how they might today.
5. You should check indexes for five to ten years
either side of the date you think the event took
place, just in case your information was wrong.
6. They may have been born, married or died
outside England and Wales, so it may be worth
checking the registers of vital events registered by
British citizens living overseas (free at
www.familyrelatives.com ), or in Scotland and
Ireland.
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Articles in the series:
Get going with your
family history
Census Returns
Birth, marriage
and death records
Birth, marriage
and death certificates
Going back
before 1837
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