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Accessing English BDM records

Accessing English BDM records

Posted: 6 Mar 2014 6:41PM GMT
Classification: Query
Is there a system in England comparable to the Scotlands People website which let's you see the BDM records. as far as I can see the only way to get the info on a record is to pay GRO £10. This is quite expensive especially if you end up with the wrong person which happens a lot in my experience. I really don't need a printed out certificate. I just want the information from the records. Gillian

Re: Accessing English BDM records

Posted: 6 Mar 2014 9:23PM GMT
Classification: Query
Alas, no! There has been considerable pressure for this to be the case but so far, no luck.

The fee is actually £9.25 (not much less than 10 quid, I know). It is also possible to work the system a bit to avoid getting too many "wrong" certificates. If you have one piece of the jigsaw that you are absolutely sure about then you need to answer "no" to the question "Is the GRO Index Reference known?" - even if you do have the reference for the event in question. The next section of the form will then give you the option of specifying criteria such as the forename of one or more parent (for a birth certificate) or a father's name (for a marriage certificate). The GRO will only issue a certificate if a match is found. If not, they will refund your fee in full. This service takes a bit longer - 15 days rather than the usual 4.

Hope this helps

Caroline

Re: Accessing English BDM records

Posted: 7 Mar 2014 7:18AM GMT
Classification: Query
That's good advice Caroline. Thank you, I'll bear that in mind. And here's hoping the GRO get their act together and get this info available online. Gillian

Re: Accessing English BDM records

Posted: 19 May 2014 11:01AM GMT
Classification: Query
Hello Gillian,
Who are you searching for in B.M.D. if you give some information on them I will have a bit of a search for you.
Regards.
Maureen.
Liverpool.U.k.

Re: Accessing English BDM records

Posted: 26 Aug 2014 4:57PM GMT
Classification: Query
Gillian, thanks for posting this. I have been dithering about this very question for a long time. I will use the advise provided to you in the hopes of narrowing down the list for my grandparents birth and marriage certificates. Wondering if this approach will also work for death records if I provide a name of next-of-kin (wife) or do they only go by "informant's name" as they do here in Canada.

Re: Accessing English BDM records

Posted: 26 Aug 2014 5:26PM GMT
Classification: Query
Unfortunately, English death certificates do not show next of kin (though a married or widowed woman's may show her husband's name in the "occupation' column). The relationship of the informant to the deceased is given and sometimes this can be a useful clue (especially if it is a daughter with a previously unknown married name) but the informant can be pretty much anyone and you can't request a certificate based on a guess of who it might be.

Difficult to find deaths can sometimes be winkled out via the probate calendars (digitised by Ancestry), provided your ancestor left an estate for which a grant of probate or administration was required (less likely for "ordinary" folk until well into the 20th century).

Re: Accessing English BDM records

Posted: 26 Aug 2014 7:44PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thanks, appreciate the info.

Re: Accessing English BDM records

Posted: 26 Aug 2014 8:03PM GMT
Classification: Query
You may find this tutorial regarding BMD certificates helpful:
http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm

Re: Accessing English BDM records

Posted: 11 Mar 2015 9:24AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 11 Mar 2015 9:24AM GMT
Although birth, marriage and death certificates can only be obtained by buying them from the General Register Office or from the relevant Local Register Office, there are ways of finding most of the same information from church registers of baptism, marriage and burials. Some of these church records are on pay-to-view websites like Ancestry and Find My Past. You may be able to view the actual church register or it may be a transcription.

There are also transcriptions of church registers available for free that have been compiled by volunteers. Eg www.lan-opc.org.uk for Lancashire Online Parish Clerks (has links for other counties).

A very useful site is ukbmd.org.uk which has lots of links to useful databases, many free. Particularly useful are the indexes of birth, marriage and death certificates held by Local Register Offices, eg lancashirebmd.org.uk . Even if you cannot view the certificate online, you can use these to narrow down the search. Unlike the GRO indexes, these give more information, eg name of church where a couple married.

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