General Chat

Penny, Some sound advice courtesy of my late father.... "Expect nothing and tomorrow you will not be disappointed." More seriously, maybe they don't record despatch dates, but surely they can say if they have fulfilled an order or not ? Why bother giving us those COLxxxxx references otherwise ? I'd email them again and ask them just that. Rick.

Just let me clear up this certificate thing from the various sources. What anyone gets from an office doesn't mean that's the norm. All the original certificates are held with the District Registrars. In the early days (before photocopying) the certificates were copied out by hand and the copy sent to the GRO. Later ones would be photocopies. If you apply to the District Offices you may get a photocopy of the original or a transcription, (Shelli's one from Keighley a transcription, mine from Leeds, just down the road, a copy of original) If from the GRO it can be a copy of the original or a copy of the original transcription. You can tell these ( I have one in front of me from 1911) because the writing is all the same. The originals (like my grandads from 1907) shows all the different signatures. It is almost certain that some of these GRO transcriptions will differ from the originals held locally. Everyone confused ? Bob

The postman has just brought today's mail and I really thought I was in luck - there were two large white envelopes - but neither of them contained my certificate! I have rechecked the email I received from the GRO last week in reply to my query, and it states "Our online service does not allow for the recording of despatch dates", so there's not much point ringing them again. Will just have to keep waiting. Penny

Kevin, that was probably me!! I'm the one with hair on end and stamping my feet cos I can't find anything OR dancing a jig when I do!! If you need your own birth cert then yes you need to apply in the usual way at either FRC or local reg office. Most places nowadays will only accept photo ID - i.e. new style driver's licence, passport etc. Maz. XX

Have received my Certificate this morning from GRO - it took 13 days!! Local Registry Offices are much quicker, although the GRO does send a print of the original Certificate, so there is no chance of wrong transcriptions - unless you do it yourself! Difficult to read some of the writing though and still can't make out my ancestor's profession!! Kathy

i thought it was only me, so now i will just have to be patient cos i ordered 4 at the same time 10 days ago and in the past it has taken less than a week. but heres a query. if you have lost your own birth cert and need another do you go thru the same process as when you get your ancestors. the reason being it says on the ones i have got that one cannot use this cert as identification. also whats to stop illeagel immigrants from obtaining a copy of a certificate in an english name and using that. i have seen some very dodgy looking people searching the indexes at the FRC.

hi to you all i phoned gro to be told that there is a back log on certificates as there demand went up from 4000 to 8000 overnight!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats a lot of money they are taking on more staff to cope with the demand. my certificates were to be despatched on 27th feb and arrived on 8th march, so they are on their way. take care linda

At the moment GRO are dealing with 30,000 certificate requests a week. I ordered 2 on 24th Feb and received one but was sent an email telling me the marriage entry I requested was the wrong one. I questioned this with GRO as I was 99% sure the date was right and I had checked the indexes myself. When they rechecked it was the correct entry after all, this might have put someone else off on the wrong track. Send them a mail tracking your order and they respond very quickly. The only time I have found local register offices won't help is when the GRO ref no is quoted. So I just don't quote it! Deborah

robert the one i received this morning was certainly transcribed as it's signed by the current superintendent registar (as per compliment slip), also the ones I receive from my local office are also transcriptions, as when i got one from there before, neither the registar nor myself could read the orginal entry and we made an educated guess by reading other entries on the page. We guessed wrong!!! Shelli

Ordered one on 26 feb and it arrived today - they have notices in the FRC to warn of delays and my receipt said to allow 3 extra days - i.e. 10 working days until they post it. It worked out to be as they had predicted. Maz. XX

I was very very lucky the other day some of my rellies lived local in Salford so I went in person to the registry office and they do them while you wait. The lady shouted me over to tell me my cert was ready she also mentioned whilst looking she found a marriage linked to the person who I was looking for. It was a marriage I couldn't find due to her not putting her true maiden name on her daughters birth cert. So I have my gg aunts birth cert who Im named after and also her parents marriage cert :) Jan x

Shelli, They are not all transcribed, it depends on which office and which certificates. The district offices hold all the original certificates (its the GRO that are copies or transcriptions) so it must be what facilities they have. The reluctance of some London offices to work with family researchers can cause problems since some BMD records only exist at local level Bob

On the plus side.... I ordered a marriage cert from the local office in Keighley Yorks, on Monday afternoon. It arrived here South London this morning and it was only posted second class. On the down side.... My problem is a lot of my rellies come from London and several offices refuse to deal with family history certs, forcing me to order from Southport. BUT when ordering from local offices beware as brian has previously warned they are transcribed... the one i received today is a good example. I know for certain the brides father was called Oswald but the cert i received today clearly states Oswell. Shelli

I know the feeling Frances. Our postman does not come until just before lunch now, so I spend half the morning wondering when he's going to arrive, only to be disappointed when he brings a load of junk mail. They say patience is a virtue ............ Penny PS My certificate was ordered on 23rd February, so hopefully when I get mine yours should arrive the next day!

I have been waiting 11 days for 3 certs. still waiting for refunds from last lot. Used to be very fast, up to 5 days. Now 2 to 3 weeks. They are having a lot of probs. inundated with requests. A couple of months ago when I phoned GRO I was always First in the queue. Now I can be 10th. Sandra

Nesta If the ones from the register office are transcripts, be aware that there can be errors. I wasted a lot of time looking for Jane Goddard as clearly typed on the certificate, only to find weeks later that I should have been looking for Jane Gorrod. IMHO you can't better a copy of the original. I am glad to read this thread because I have been waiting over a fortnight for a cert. when in the past it has only taken 8 or 9 days. No need to panic yet, then.

I'm thinking of giving up with the GRO and go back to sending off to the registry office for them. Two reasons:- 1. I usually receive them by return of post and 2. They are legible I expect that I will have to go to the GRO when the registry office fails but I think I can live with that. Nes

I've been waiting 11 days so far, but at least I know you have all been waiting longer. I always order Certificates from Local Registry Offices (where I've often had them back in two days, but some of the London ones (like Hackney) won't do this, although Bow is brilliant. I think it depends how efficient they are, or not!! Kathy

Thank you Rick, Daphne and John for your replies. Looks like I was quite lucky with my previous certificates which only took about a week to arrive. I did phone the GRO a couple of days ago, but they do not keep of record of when/if certificates have been sent out, which is not very helpful! Looks like I'll just have to be patient a bit longer :-) Penny

Hi, Last month I ordered 10 certs from GRO and 3 from Chester on the same day. The ones from Chester came two days later; GRO took 18 days!! (It's unusual to treat myself to so many by the way!!) It was worth the wait though. :-)