Genealogy Chat

Most of my ancestors lived in either Lancashire or Cheshire. Both have indexes on line, with an online ordering service. Some other areas do too - investigate ukbmd.org. I use both these indexes to find the marriage (which gives the name of the spouse, and the venue of the wedding) If it was a church wedding, I look to see how available the church register is and order a photocopy of the entry from either Lancs Records Office, or whoever holds a copy of the register. The cost of this varies from about 50p to £4. Obviously much cheaper if you can get to the records office in person and photocopy it yourself. However, this is a time-consuming exercise, with slow results usually, so I only use it for less-important marriages (the ones I would like, but don't necessarily need). For other events I now use GRO online ordering service for the straightforward stuff, and the local office for the complicated stuff! I have always had wonderful help from local offices and they almost always go the extra mile for me. One local Registrar even tipped me off about a book written about my family - this found me hundreds of relatives! I sent her a bunch of flowers and we are now very best mates, lol. OC OC

Rowena, If you phone the GRO for a certificate it will cost more than if you order online (I think it is £8.50p using the phone instead of £7 online). You also only need one name to order a marriage certificate not both. Kath. x

Thanks everybody this is a great help. :) Katrina

Most of all NEVER pay more than £7 for a certificate. There are several sites that have been set up to rip people off and some charge around £25 for a certificate. Anything over £7 is their profit.

It is always worth checking other sources, such as the IGI, to see if you can find the marriage date and location. If you can find the parish register at the local Archive, you can take a copy (usually) for a few pence, and the information is exactly the same as a 'Certificate', because the church minister has acted as Registrar. The Register Office copy is just that, a copy, and the parish record will have the original signatures (or marks) of the participants. If you are confident that you have the right GRO reference for an event, then I would tend to use the GRO online service for the avoidance of hassle. The only problem is that you may need to iron flat the certificates after they have been maulled in the post. I, for one, would happily pay 50p extra for them to use a stiffened envelope.

Be wary of local offices if you are applying for a marriage cert- I knew the registration district and the month/year, but as I did not know the church I was told that the office could not possibly search every church record in the district. Since then I have stuck with the GRO!!! As Clive said, some offices are less helpful than others!!!

Many members prefer to use the services of the local register office where the event was first registered, in obtaining certificates. Often the service is more personal, and can be significantly quicker, but as each office seems to make its own arrangements for handling certificate requests, the process can be more complicated. A few pointers: Registration districts have changed over time, and very frequently historical registers are not held at the location of the original registration. Some detective work is needed occasionally to decide which office to approach (but you can always ring and ask). Some offices won't provide certificates for family history research at all. I have no idea how one group of public servants are entitled to adopt this high and mighty approach, while drawing their salaries in full, while others are friendly and helpful and will go out of their way to find that difficult entry, but it is a fact of life. Again, you can ring and enquire. Most have no facilities for online ordering, and you may have to order by letter with payment by cheque, or in person. This is no problem, but increasingly, we have an expectation that everything we want or could need should be available, on demand, from our own PC desktop. It isn't. Frequently, a local office will be more helpful if the full details of a registration are not known. They will search registers either side of the target date, and they will (usually) check things like mother's maiden name, or ages, where is is difficult to be certain from the GRO index which entry is the right one (eg 10 x John Smiths in the same place in the same quarter). GRO charges extra for this checking, and local offices (usually) don't. Many offices expect you to provide an SAE for the return of your certificate, whereas the GRO £7 is inclusive of delivery. If you have a sorting office or postman whose idea of fun is to spot a certificate and screw it up in its flimsy envelope before stuffing its remains through your letterbox, then the local office will be for you: send them a stout envelope and receive your certificate in good condition. Some local offices will supply a copy of an original registration (with the informant's original signature) rather than a copy of the GRO transcript. This can be useful. The way in which original registers are indexed and the way in which the GRO consolidated index is complied are different. The local reference will mean nothing the GRO and the reverse is true. GRO will always charge more if the reference is not provided, whereas the local office will actually look it up for you. I can't see any reason for anyone to pay a premium price to a third party to obtain a certificate for them when it can be had for £7 from GRO (with online ordering), or from a local register office at the same price, but sometimes with a small supplement for postage.

When you order a certificate you need the following information to hand The two people who are getting married names Year Quarter (March, June, Sept, Dec) The district that they got married in The volume (e.g 9b, 2a, 11c etc) Page number The only site I know is General Register Office. Go to Google and put in General Register Office they are based in Southport I phone in because I am in the UK, I would imagine it would be the same info they would want online to order. Good Luck

Im ordering from overseas and found GRO handy as you only pay 7 pounds and no postage. The local reg offices do not always have online ordering. Not sure if they charge postage. If you are not sure of the dates someone with Ancestry will likely tell you the ref no. to order from GRO. Margaret

How much would I expect to pay and would this be the best site to get the certificate from? I have heard there are several sites to get the certs from.

Marriage certificate only has fathers name on Birth certificate has mothers maiden name plus address and fathers name and occupation you can order on line from http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

Hi I'm new at purchasing birth certs in England. I am not sure where to order one from. Does the marriage certificate have the parents names on it? I don't have birth dates only an approx so was just wondering which cert would be best to get. Thanks :)