Genealogy Chat

Thanks also to Graham and Ann.

Ruth If you go and view parish records at the Records office relevant to the person you are looking for, pre-1837, and find an entry which you think is yours the Records office will copy it for you I have copies of the pages of parish registers in my tree. Ann ,Darlington

Sorry Ruth, Pre 1837 no certificates, no bananas. This is why it is so important to see for yourself that the info someone gives you is correct. Jim

The general registration of births, marriages and deaths started in 1837. A central copy of all registrations is held by the General Register Office (GRO) and a central index is held at the Family Records Centre (FRC) in London. Local Offices hold records of and indexes to events registered in their area since 1837. To answer your question in the shell of a nut - you cannot get certificates for BMD prior to 1837 - all you CAN do is to view the parish records. Graham

Thanks Andrea and James! Andrea - my tree might look impressive but I haven't verified anyone with certificates yet! Also have included all my partner's family (as I'm the one researching them!) and had pretty amazing luck with connections made on this site. James - does this mean you can get certs from parish register entries or do you look at/get a copy of the register entry itself? Sorry if I'm being a bit dim about this!

Hi Ruth, Thank you for beginning to be a relative. Civil Registration commenced in July 1837 although I have heard that it did not become legally enforceable for some time after that. So it is possible to apply for BMD certs as far back as that. On the other hand Parish Records still continued in parallel with Civil Registration right up to the present day. Jim, Gosport, HAM.

And as a "relative beginner" you are doing a damn site better than me with 268 people in your tree!!!

I think if you go on the Latter Day Saints site (second one down on the links page) they have a section all about the different certificates and what information they hold (I will go and check and update my message). As the years went on, more and more information was required to be put on the certificates so you get more for the new certificates than the old ones. I can't say about getting certificates pre 1837 as I haven't got that far back. I am sure someone else will answer that part for you. As for the information required to get the certificates in the first place; all I have given so far is the name of the person / people involved, the quarter that the event occurred, the year, district and page number - I have got these details from FreeBMD or census. If you want a birth certificate, give them the name of the person AND both parents (or at least a first name or something so they check they have the right one). The more information you can give them, the better. Hope this helps. Good luck with your searching and a good tip for you - if ever you get stuck, just post a note on here and someone will get back to you. They are brilliant!!

As a relative beginner please can someone tell me is there a limit on the years you can apply for B, M or D certs for? eg can you get them pre 1837 and what details would you be likely to get? Also what specific information you need to supply to order them? I've searched my geneology books and they're not very hellpful on this!!