Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths From 1 July 1837

Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in England and Wales on 1 July 1837. Copies of the register entries are kept by the Office for National Statistics and have been indexed. The indexes are organised alphabetically for each year in quarterly volumes to 1983, thereafter annually. They can be inspected free of charge at the Family Records Centre. Microfiche copies of the indexes are also available at The National Archives and in many local libraries and record offices. Microfilm copies of the indexes can be searched at Family History Centres of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (to find the nearest one to you, contact the British Isles Family History Service Centre, 185 Penns Lane, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham B76 1JU: 0121 384 2028, or visit www.familysearch.org.

Although you can look at the indexes for free, you will have to purchase certified copies of the actual entries in the registers. You can complete an order form at the Family Records Centre, or you can buy copies by email or by post if you have the reference from the index. Postal applications should be sent to the General Register Office, PO Box 2, Southport, Merseyside PR8 2JD (Telephone 0300 123 1837, or for international callers: +44 151 471 4200; fax 01704 55 00 13); emails certificate.services@ips.gsi.gov.uk. Don't buy the cheaper short certificate: it does not give the names of parents. If you already know in which district an event took place, you can buy the certificate direct from the relevant local register office. You can find their addresses in The Family and Local History Handbook, by R Blatchford (York, 6th edn 2002).

Information in a Full Birth Certificate

Information in a Full Birth Certificate
date and place of birth	full name and maiden surname of the mother
forename(s) and sex of the child	the informant's name, address and relationship to the child
full name and occupation of the father if married to the mother(or if he attended with the mother and signed the registration entry	from 1969, the place of birth of both parents

Information in a Marriage Certificate

Information in a Marriage Certificate
date and place of marriage	marital status of the bride and groom
whether by banns, licence or certificate	current address and occupation of the bride and groom
names and ages of the bride and groom	names and occupations of their fathers
('full age' indicates that the person was over 21)	names of witnesses

Information in a Death Certificate

Information in a Death Certificate
name of the deceased	occupation, or the name and occupation of the husband if a married or widowed woman
date and place of death	name, address and family relationship if any of the informant
given age	date and place of birth, usual address and maiden name if a married or widowed woman (but only from 1 April 1969)
cause(s) of death

Tips: try the indexes of birth, marriage and death registrations in England and Wales between 1837 and 1901 at www.freebmd.org.uk. This database is not yet complete and more entries are being added all the time. Look at the progress charts at this site for more information. You can download, for a fee, copies of the indexes, 1837-2002, at www.1837online.co.uk.

Try the International Genealogical Index (IGI) at www.familysearch.org for details of marriages extracted from parish and vital records. This will save you time searching the GRO indexes, and you can then go straight to these to find the GRO reference so that you can buy a certificate containing all the information you need. The IGI is not complete and no living people are included in it, so the entries are likely to end over a hundred years ago. You could also try the British Isles Vital Records Index (BIVRI), on CDROM, at the Family Records Centre, National Archives, and many other libraries and record offices, and in Family History Centres of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.