CERTIFICATES

Don't understand the English Registration system?

This page was put in to help those searches that seem to be a 'dead end'. (Remember this is help on CIVIL Registers NOT PARISH !)

Hopefully these few tips will help you find another missing link!

The Family Records Centre provides the research facilities previously provided at St Catherine's House and the Census Reading Rooms in Chancery Lane.

Family Records Centre holds the following:

	Indexes of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales since 1837
	Indexes of legal adoptions in England and Wales since 1927
	Indexes of births, marriages and deaths of some British citizens abroad since the late 18th century, including deaths in the two World Wars
	copies of Census of Population returns, 1841-1891
	Non-parochial registers from 1567-185
	Estate Office - death duty registers from 1796-1858, with indexes from 1796-1903
	registered copies of wills and administrations up to 1858 from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
	Miscellaneous foreign returns of births, death and marriages from 1627-1960

What information is found on Indexes?

You will find limited information in the index and so if you are not sure that you have the correct relative, the only way to find out is to order a copy of the certificate!

If you cant find the entry at all in the index and want a little more help then here are a few tips on searching.

Registration Districts are the area or district where the Birth Marriage or Death takes place. Registration district may not be the exact place of birth. So although you may know exactly where your ancestor was born, you are unlikely to find it in the index

Birth Certificates

Delay in Registration?

The indexes to birth, Marriages and Deaths are arranged by quarters (March, June, September and December). As there was often some delay in-between birth and the registration, a September birth might well not appear until the December quarter.

You may not have the exact date for a birth or even the year, you may then have to search the indexes either sides of the suspected date. If this is the try an indirect search (see below)

Indirect Certificates -
Where the names of the brothers/sisters are known with certainty, it may well be better to get the birth certificate of one born in or near a census year.

This will give the same information for the parents but will give you an added bonus of an address where the family can be followed up in a census return!

Marriage Certificates

To find a marriage in the index when you have only the date of birth of one of the children to go by, start looking in quarter following the birth (as sometimes the first birth was before the marriage) and then work backwards!

Where an entry is found which could be the right one, look up the other surname and see if there is a person of the right name with the exact reference number.
If so, then you know that you have the right marriage!

From 1912 you need not look up the other second party ( his or her name is given in brackets). Unfortunately in the early years of registration exact ages were not given frequently on marriage certificates only 'of age'.

Checking for people of the same Name -
Even with the rarest Surnames, more than one person with the same Christian name may be found.
Where you find an entry that seems to be the right one, you should always continue the search for the whole of the period .

Divorces

Until 1857 divorce was only possible by special act of Parliament.

However, in that year an Act made divorce possible to most people.
The register of Divorces is still kept in the Probate and Divorce Department.

If a person remarried in the lifetime of the first spouse, then divorce is the usual explanation!

Adoptions

A certificate of adoption can be obtained giving the date of birth, names of adoptive parents, court of adoption and adoption order details.

Indexes of adoptions from 1924 are on open shelves, but remember that the children are listed under the surname of the adoptive parents and the adoption might take place many years after the birth.

To obtain information from the original records, which are not open to the public, it is necessary to apply for a certificate by entering the appropriate details from the index on an application form.

Under English law an adopted person over the age of 18 can obtain information on his/her parents but application MUST be made in person.

Death Certificates

The English death certificate is not very helpful for tracing but will often yield a useful address for looking up in the census returns.

If the cause of death is at all unusual, it may provide the vital clue for discovering a full report in the local newspaper.

Age at death is given in the indexes from 1866 only.

Applying for Certificates

Applications made in person are cheaper than postal applications, so if you can't apply in person it may be cheaper to employ an agent.
If you collect the Certificate personally it may be ready in three days, if you arrange for it to be sent to you by post it may well take up to a week in the UK

Family Records Page

Other Supplementary Lists

�Consular returns of B/D/M of British Citizens in foreign countries from 1849

�RAF returns of B/D/M from 1920

�Army Returns of B/D/M from 1761

�Births and Deaths at Sea 1st July 1837 to 31 Dec 1874 (after that date these are kept at Cardiff, Wales - by Registrar General for Shipping and Seamen)

for more help try the CIVIL page click here