Genealogy Chat

Hi ! I got my death certificate today from Nuneaton - that's 3 working days...however, to my dismay I discovered I'd ordered the wrong one!!!!! The certificate I got was for a little lad aged 3 months whose cause of death was 'Atrophy, no medical attention'. I had to look Atrophy up in Google and the description is as follows: 'Atrophy is the progressive loss of muscle mass, or wasting, caused by reduction in the size or number of muscle cells'. I can not help but be sad for this poor little baby , even though he's not a relative.

Heather yep can verify that about Tower Hamlets. I have not ordered a cert from there.. didn't even try after asking Southwark and being told v rudely they didn't deal with that. However once i had the cert from ONS, i had a query so i called Towere Hamlets in the hope they would help...... and boy did they help... The very Kind lady checked out all siblings and while she wouldn't tell me names/addresses, if i mentioned one she said yes. She also confirmed all other siblings (7) had the same maiden name. true she took a couple days.. doing it when she had time... but she didn't even have to do that!!!

Yes I was choked off by Southwark - but just remembered that Tower Hamlets were brilliant, BUT the cert sent had been written out in modern hand.

I agree with Heather and Mo... Several london office will not deal with certs issued for family history research. Mo Southwark is one of my areas too :-(((

I use Calderdale and it's fantastic. I ordered a death cert of a rellie whom I'm fascinated about. His name was Titus Appleyard and I think it's the name that draws me. Turns out he committed suicide by jumping off North Bridge, Halifax. The very nice person in Calderdale Reg Office photocopied a picture of the bridge and also put in a with compliments slip saying the inquest would probably be in the local paper and promptly gave me the address of the reference dept in the local library! You just can't fault that kind of service.

Chesterfield, overnight virtually. Wakefield very good.

Following what people have said on here, I ordered two from Wakefield office, and they said they will photocopy the originals and send it out to me tonight, so hopefully, they will be here in the morning. Fingers crossed

2 days from Wigan. Posted the letter Tues morning and rec the cert Thurs morning, Good going that. Denise

Just to make you envious I found last weekend 3 original certs 1 dated just over 100years!!! Didn't need GRO in this case I'm glad now.

Thanks for all your replies. It's interesting to see that some register offices are much more helpful & quicker than others. I don't think it a bad idea to 'name and shame' as it's a service we're paying for. There was a similar thread about records office staff a couple of weeks ago. Di

I rang Maidenhead & Windsor Register Office on Monday and they said they would try to turn my request for a death certificate around in a couple of days, if I put a cheque in the post to them. I wanted it for my mum's 71st birthday on Sunday (it could be her birth grandfather's death certificate, she was adopted and we can't find the mother's birth/death details at the moment). I explained this to the clerk and she said put a note on it that it was needed urgently for a birthday and they would certainly see what they could do to turn it around so that I got it before the end of the week. This is the first certificate that I've ordered from a local office so I'm keeping everything crossed that it arrives in time and possibly tomorrow morning! Another death certificate, could be my mum's cousin's cert, was ordered from GRO on 3/3/06 online and it has not appeared yet. Westminster Register Office wanted the exact dates of the deaths etc, something that I could not provide as I only had the quarter and GRO index no. and so I'm not going to bother trying to order direct from them. I found the info on a website, possibly GenUKI. Claire

Order from Wakefield yesterday lunch time - was waiting for me when I got home this evening. Looks like a copy of the original - and cant see a difference between that and ones ordered from the gro. (still waiting on 5 ordered 26th Feb by the way)

Sorry to have a grumble but you did say we could moan about the bad ones? Manchester took 2 weeks and then phoned me to check the district I had quoted was correct. I assured them it was the correct district, the certificate arrived 5 days later. This was last year so maybe they've improved? Re passports causing delays, childrens passport applications now have to include a FULL birth certificate. If either parent was born after 1983 their FULL birth certificate also has to be sent.

Hi Glen/Dianne Thanks for the info. Since posting I have discovered the area I need is Nuneaton. I've ordered the certificate I want and have been quoted a week for delivery. The helpful lady I spoke to told me they are very busy due to a change in the passport laws? This is the first time I've ordered from a local office (as opposed to the GRO) so here's hoping I've got everything right! I'll post to let you know how long it took

I've ordered by post from Durham, Newcastle, Guisborough & Middlesbrough, all within the last 6 months (but before the last series of WDYTYA) In all cases the reply was within 3 days, and about half they must have processed it the day it was received. £7 plus SAE. These were all from their on-line indexes, so the marriages were not a problem. You can print off a form that has their own local reference number on. Only drawback - as previously mentioned- all were modern copies, not photostats of their originals. On a number of occasions they have sent the cheque back uncashed when the checking points didn't match (eg father's name). Invaluable when looking for an Isabella Watson (about as common as you can get in Northumberland!) because I suspected she was illegitimate so all I had was her MOTHER'S first name & the name of the village she was born. Tees Valley offices you can email first with points to check, so if its wrong you haven't even lost the price of the stamp.

ive found hartlepool and sunderland r quick when it comes to ordering certificates

I had a 5 day turn around on a marriage certificate from Lancaster . It was the original printed on to a 'long' certificate with hand written extra details. I used the on line form from the Lancashire BMD site. The cost was seven pounds plus a stamped, self addressed envelope. Helen

Further to Lyndseys' question,the Coventry area may come within one of several possible offices. If the bmd index number is known then the district number will tell which office is required. It may be an office in Warwickshire,Solihull,Leicestershire or possibly Oxfordshire or Northants. Seeing as the area is close to Lutterworth,(Leicestershire)Daventry(Northants)Birmingham(Solihull)and could be Warwick direction,it's worth noting the reg district from the bmd index,but the GRO number is not required (in fact it's different) for an application through a local office. Glen

Cambridge and Hartlepool have a very quick turnaround on orders, although I haven't ordered from them since the last WDYTYA. Jane.

Southampton used to phone you to explain if they had not been able to find the cert and get it issued on the same day as you made your request (they take card details over the phone).....all apologies....we will do it first thing tomorrow! Same for if you phoned after around 3.30pm.....''We are so sorry, we MAY not be able to get it into today's post''!! LOL I haven't used them in two years though, so don't know if things are still the same! Merry