Find Ancestors

Great, thank you.

You'll want to use
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/
for births pre-1911q3 and deaths pre-1867q1

Name: Mother's Maiden Surname:
SIGGS, SIDNEY HAROLD GAWLER
GRO Reference: 1903 J Quarter in WOOLWICH Volume 01D Page 1258
WOOD, ROSE MARTHA EVES
GRO Reference: 1905 J Quarter in WOOLWICH Volume 01D Page 1267
WOOD, ROSE MAUD WICKINS
GRO Reference: 1905 J Quarter in POPLAR Volume 01C Page 567

Although I favour the Woolwich Rose, Poplar's within spitting distance


Here's another example (with random names)

Name: Mother's Maiden Surname:
SIGGS, GEORGE JOHN FREE
GRO Reference: 1866 M Quarter in LINTON Volume 03B Page 544

Births Mar 1866 (>99%)
Siggs George J Linton 3b 544

Marriages Mar 1866 (>99%)
FREE Susan Linton 3b 613
SIGGS Ebenezer Linton 3b 613

If I click on Linton, then the more info "here" link, I get:

LINTON REGISTRATION DISTRICT
Registration County : Cambridgeshire.
Created : 1.7.1837.
Abolished : 1.4.1935 (to become part of Cambridgeshire and Saffron Walden registration districts).
Sub-districts : Balsham, Duxford, Linton.
GRO volumes : XIV (1837-51), 3b (1852-1935).
Registers currently held at : Cambridgeshire and Essex (Saffron Walden).

plus a list of civil parishes within Linton RD. Note the volume codes. I can use these on the new GRO site to specify the county of Cambs = this will be the rego county, not the actual county.

I can also look up the local index for Cambs and Wilts via
https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/local_bmd


BIRTHS Name(s) - recorded with entry Year
331/BAL/8/341 SIGGS George J 1866

MARRIAGE/Civil P M/CP Name(s)- recorded with entry Year
331/CE094/01/84 M SIGGS Ebenezer FREE Susan 1866

The local b.ref - 331/BAL/8/341 - says this is entry # 341 of the 8th b.rego for the subdistrict coded as 331/BAL, which we can guess is Balsham.
(the 331 maybe some indicator that this was in Linton RD, but I don't know)
The local m.ref - 331/CE094/01/84 - has the same structure,, except it's in the m.rego for church 331/CEo94 - obviously a C of E church, but I've no idea which one.


Births Sep 1861 (>99%)
WISE Frederick Charles Warminster 5a 137

Marriages Dec 1849 (>99%)
Cornish Rebecca Warminster 8 832
Doel Richard Warminster 8 832
GAY Isaac Redman Warminster 8 832
>Green Eliza Charlotte Warminster 8 832
Snelgrove Maria Warminster 8 832
>Wire Henry Warminster 8 832


Guessing couple
Marriages Mar 1844 (>99%)
BARRIE James Cheltenham 11 205
>BROWN Eliza Cheltenham 11 205
EVERILL Elizabeth Sarah Cheltenham 11 205
GAGER Susan Cheltenham 11 205
>GREEN William Cheltenham 11 205
Jones John Cheltenham 11 205
SCHOLES Mary Cheltenham 11 205
WHITAKER Thomas Cheltenham 11 205
WHITTAKER Thomas Cheltenham 11 205

Wiltshire Birth indexes for the years: 1861
Surname Forename(s) Mother's Maiden Name Sub-District Registers At Reference
WISE Frederick C BROWN Warminster History Centre WARM/13/19

Wiltshire Marriage indexes for the years: 1849
Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference
WISE * Henry BROWN Eliza C Warminster, St Denys History Centre C35/1/316
WISE * Henry GREEN Eliza C Warminster, St Denys History Centre C35/1/316

For the UKBMD series (which are first on the local links page), the subdistrict is given and the church code is decoded.
Also, for Bs & Ds, sometimes the final element in the local ref is a page #, not an entry #.
Only for N Wales is a page # used for marrs, but even then, comparison of the GRO page and the local page will halve the number of possible spouses 50% of time due to misalignment of the GRO pages with the local pages.
Age at death & mum's maiden surname is not always given but these values are usually being retrofitted.
Coverage is not complete, and the full name is not always given - just 1 forename + initials.
One final quirk is sometimes the year of birth is given, rather than the year of registration.

Some of the other sites require you to click on a show spouse link.
Kent doesn't even do this for you, and you have to look up all the other possible spouses until you get a match on the local ref (since spouses must appear on the same entry).

1939

14 Myra Street, Woolwich, London, England
Sidney H Siggs 10 Mar 1903 Male Insurance Agent Married 209 1
Rose M Siggs 13 Mar 1905 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married 209 2
Eleanor C Shirlan 25 Jul 1864 Female Housekeeper (Retired) Single 209 3

Didn't know you could do that ! Ta ! Rose it is then !

on freebmd

Simply click on the page number!