Genealogy Chat

Been doing this for only a week or so now. I need to order my Grandmother's Birth Certificate to confirm a link with somebody elses tree. Reading threads on here the figure most often quoted is £7, however the charges I have found seem to vary between £11.50 and £23. Is the charge related to the amount of information I am able to provide ? I have my Grandmother's birthplace and date and the reason I need this cert is to confirm her parents names, I don't want to prejudice findings by making possibly incorrect assumptions. What is the best course of action ?

order online from the GRO £7 with a ref number. tell us what youknow about her birth - where and when and it can be looked up in the registers for you to find that ref number GRO = general records office

Cheers..... Its Elsie Cropper b/d 10/07/1906 Ashton-u-Lyne

This is the official place to buy certs from - do not use any other site, as they charge anything up to £25 for the same thing: http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/ As long as you have the GRO reference it will cost you£7. Make sure you tick the box that asks if you have the reference. You only pay more than that if you also ask for them to check the certificate has certain names as the parents or partner. To get the reference you need to look at the bmd index. At the moment you can view this free on ancestry.

Steve If you order Certificates direct from the GRO site online, they will only cost £7 each. You will, however, need a GRO Reference and a Debit/Credit Card to do this. You can also order them by post and they cost £8.50 that way. There are downloadable forms for Births, Marriages and Deaths at the site and the address to apply to is on the forms. For your info:- www(.)gro(.)gov(.)uk Remove the brackets round the dots. HTH Joy Joy

Welcome Steve, As Alice says the price is £7 from GRO - never pay more, it is not necessary. If you want to put the details up we will help you find the reference number you need. Dea x

Hi Steve as Alice says it' s £7 with the ref no,it would be £11.50 without. You can get the ref number for yourself on ancestry etc,but for a start put some info on here,and someone can probably get it for you. Glen

Is the reference number I need in the information on freebmd ?

here's the ref you need: Name: Cropper, Elsie Record Type: Births Quarter: September Year: 1906 District: Ashton under Lyne County: Cheshire Lancashire Volume: 8d Page: 538 The Volume and Page Number are the GRO reference Merry

Steve this is her birth.. Births Sep 1906 Cropper Elsie Ashton 8d 538 The ref. no. you need is 8d-538. Georgina.

Might it really have taken 2 months for the birth to be registered?

there you go...faster than the speed of light!! (takes about a week to come usually but when you order it, they'll give you an estimated date of dispatch)

Steve The years are divided into Quarters:- Events registered in January to March come under the March Quarter Events registered April to June come under the June Quarter Events registered July to September come under the September Quarter Events registered October to December Quarter come under the December Quarter. So though your Grandmother was born in July her birth was registered in the September Quarter. Joy

September Quarter just means births registered during July, August + September. The year is split into 4 quarters - Jan, Feb, March, April, May, June, etc. So, in September quarter, the birth could have been registered in July, or later but before end September. Dea x

Very quick..... tele must be pretty bad tonight ? Just where do I insert the ref. number. I can't seem to get the cost down from £11.50 ?

The Sept Quarter, or third Q, means the birth was registered between 1st July and 31st Sept in any given year. The birth may have occurred in the same Q or up to six weeks before, as the informant was given 42 days to register the birth. Then again, if the birth had occurred in Sept or end of Aug, it might well have been registered the following Q. (Dec Q or Q4) Merry

Have you ticked the box saying you have the GRO reference You will be asked the year. tick the box that you have the ref. You will then insert the name followed by all the info you have been given, the district, the quarter, the volume and page. Check you have put the right entries then click it will show the cert details again for you to check. It will tell you the cost is £7. submit and then enter all your card details.

On the first part of the order screen there's a box ''Do you know the GRO ref?'' If you answer Yes, on the next screen (or the following one - forgotten!) you have the opportunity to enter it. Merry

Sorry Heather, I know its rude to correct people, but: It does not cost any more to give checking points, its still only seven quid! And a four quid refund if your checking points reveal its the wrong cert. (Sorry, my keyboard is firmly locked into american mode and I don't have a sterling sign anymore) Olde Crone

Hi Old Crone, I can't see where Heather said it cost more to have it checked but I ordered two certs about 10 days ago and I was asked to pay an extra £3 on each cert to have father's name checked - I didn't do this and so I received 2 certs - one of them wrong father, even though I had put father's name in. It seemed a bit silly to pay an extra £6 to gain a possible refund of £4. Something strange is going on here. Dea x