Genealogy Chat

I have received an e-mail from the ONS payment service saying I have a refund of £4.00 from the GRO. I have obviously paid £3.00 for something, hopefully the certificate I ordered. I have e-mailed them to ask what this indicates, but only received an automated response. Has anyone any idea what this could mean? Many thanks, in advance. Tina

It means that they could not find the record for the cert you requested. They charge £3.00 for the search. Reg

Arrrghhhh!!!! Disaster...if I found it, why can't they? *gutted* Tina x

Did you put in something in the reference checking field? The GRO charge £3 to search for a certificate, if they cant find it because the GRO reference that you gave was wrong, or something you put in the reference checking field wasnt on the certificate they will refund you £4 and charge you £3 for the search.

have you got what you had written down perhaps you written number wrong or year or got BMD wrong putting under wrong thing its easely done Jeanette what did you put down perhaps we can check

Double check the GRO reference that you gave them was the correct one.

William H Lucas, Married Apr/Jun Qtr 1879 , St Saviour Vol 1d pg 30. Many thanks Jeanette. Tina

Perhaps you gave too much info........even a slight variation will cause them to say they can't find the record. One letter different is enough! Reg

I have just checked and have all the details correct. The only thing I might have wrong, it's a marriage, is his wife's name. It's Sarah in all the census info, so that is what I put on the form. Would it have been better to leave that blank? If that is the only reason, and all the other information is correct would that be a bit petty? I have obviously gone wrong somewhere. :o(( Tina

No, not petty, just being precise. If you state that the name is Sarah, and it isn't, the assumption must be that it is not the record you want. Better not to put in any more info than that of which you are 100% sure. Reg

Thanks Reggie, It would have been better to leave it blank then, it's another learning curve....I'll try again. Tina

Could this be the right one? Surname First name(s) District Vol Page Marriages Sep 1879 (>99%) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Baldwin Arthur Wandsworth 1d 913 Lucas William Henry Wandsworth 1d 913 TITE Sarah Wandsworth 1d 913 TWINE Louisa Wandsworth 1d 913

From FreeBMD, these are the names that appear on the same page Marriages Jun 1879 (>99%) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Beckett Arthur Nelson St. Saviour 1d 30 Hunt Mary Maria St.Saviour 1d 30 Lucas William Henry St Saviour 1d 30 Skull Mary Ann E St. Saviour 1d 30 As you mentioned the name Sarah, there is no match. Either 'Sarah' was actually a Mary (which I think is unlikely, as Sarah does not even appear as a middle name)or this is not the correct marriage record.

Many Thanks Lesley, this Free BMD seems to have more info than I can find on Ancestry...I think it's just me though. Tina

If you click on the page number of the reference (in this case the number 30), it brings up all the names on the same page. At one point there were 4 marriages to a page (ie 8 names), but later on there were only 2 marriages (4 names). Sometimes all the names are not there, but it's always good to check. FreeBMD also allows you to search for a marriage where you know the first and/or last name of the spouse, whereas Ancestry only checks for surname. Good luck.

I ordered a death certificate for my gt grandfather,it arrived today. My gt grandfather was a Henry Shelton died in the quarter Sept. 1905 age 67yrs, wife was Susannah Shelton. district Wolverhampton. What I received was a William Creswell Shelton, age 70, a timber merchant! I have just rung them ,they apologised and said to return the cert. with the details of my gt grandfather.But I pointed out I put the vol.no.6B page 270 so how did I receive the wrong cert? I was informed it simply had been put in the wrong envelope.Has this happened to anyone else please? Gwyn

Yes Gwyn it has happened to me. I ordered my grandmothers birth certificate but received a death certificate of a gentleman whose name was in no way similar. The only similarity was that the addressee lived in the same town as me. It is easily remedied though, just give them a call or drop them an email and they will issue the correct one straight away. Caz

Thank you for the replies. Through this I have found the marriage. I had not used the Freebmd before. Thanks to you and my good friend Karrie, I have now unearthed a plethora of Ancestors! This will keep me out of mischief....:o)) Tina x

hi Tina. When I was looking for my grandmothers birth cert. the only info I had was her name, the year, her fathers name and occupation. and a choice of two places where she might have been born. I sent these details to the local RO in Suffolk with my cheque and eventually had a PHONE call apologising for the delay, they had done a detailed search but couldn't find her but thought that if I tried another Suffolk office they would be able to supply it. My cheque was returned to me and I then sent it to the other office who came up trumps. I would certainly apply to a local office if you know which one applies - I think Genuki has a list. I'm sure other people on here have had similar results with local offices. Y.