Knowledge base

Introduction

Birth marriage and death records in England & Wales – key dates

1 July 1837 - Introduction of General Civil Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths in England and Wales

Births

• Pre-1875 - an estimated 6 to 10% of births NOT registered
• 1875 more rigorous enforcement of compulsory registration
• September quarter 1837 to June quarter 1911 -- only first two full forenames, subsequent initials, registration district and reference number
• September quarter 1911 to present -- only first forename, subsequent initials, registration district and number but also includes mother's maiden surname.

Marriages

• September quarter 1837 to December quarter 1911 -- only first two full forenames, subsequent initials, registration district and ref number
• March quarter 1912 to September quarter 1962 -- if female was previously married, index shows maiden name and married name
• March quarter 1912 to present day -- surname of spouse added

Deaths

• 1875 enforcement of compulsory registration
• September quarter 1837 to June quarter 1911 -- only first two full forenames, subsequent initials, registration district and reference number
• September quarter 1911 onwards - only first forename, subsequent initials, registration district and number
• September quarter 1837 to December quarter 1865 -- no age given
• March quarter 1866 to March quarter 1969 -- age at death given
• June quarter 1969 to present -- exact date of birth given

GRO Scotland

Scottish civil registration

The act of civil registration began in Scotland on 1 January 1855. There is a lot more information on Scottish records with the date of the parents' wedding on a birth certificate, both bride's and groom's parents are mentioned on marriage certificates and both parents also mentioned on death certificates. If you are of Scottish descent then you need to contact:

How to search the fully indexed birth records

• Click on the 'Births, Marriages & Deaths' tab at the top of the page
• Click the 'Search' button next to 'England and Wales 1837-2006'



• In the search boxes, add a last name. It's always better to enter less information to begin with to ensure that you have as wide a range of matches as possible
• Remember in the case of a woman to look for her birth using her maiden name, rather than her married name. Also remember that people sometimes don't use the name they were born with



• You'll notice two boxes labelled 'include variants'. Leave these ticked if you want to bring up spelling variations on the names
• Choose a date range to search between if you want to narrow down your results. If you know the actual birth date, it should be easy to hone in and find the record but otherwise you may need to search a wide range of dates or leave it blank
• Sometimes there can be a delay in the time someone was born and the date they were registered
• Remember that you're searching for the date the birth was registered and 40 days were allowed for registration of a birth
• You can search by county. If you want to search by more than one county at a time, press Ctrl on your keyboard while clicking the mouse on the counties you want, or search all the counties
• You can also search by adding the mother's maiden name but this only applies to records from September 1911. If you tick the box next to 'Search using maiden name as well as last name' this will bring up results where the child's last name is the same as the mother's maiden name



• Click the 'search' button at the bottom of the page.
• Your search will bring up a list of individual names that match your search criteria. It will also bring up babies unnamed at registration – the birth of the person you are interested in may have been registered before they were named



• Click on 'VIEW' next to a record to view the transcript. A transcript is a typed record of the details on the original birth index:



• Having paid to view the transcript, you can view the original image for free by clicking on the 'view original image' box
• The image you will see is the original General Register Office (GRO) index, shown at full page scale, so you should zoom in to see the information in more detail
• There are some really useful pieces of information to be gleaned from the original image:



• Confirm the first name and see if there are any middle initials
• The second column gives the mother's maiden name, although as you can see above this wasn't included before the September quarter of 1911
• You can note the registration district. Remember that the registration district may not be exactly where the person was born but it's likely to be nearby
• Note the volume and page number of the register in which the birth was recorded. These are vital when ordering a birth certificate which will give you far more information
• If you wish to save the image you can do this by clicking on the 'save image to computer' button
• When you're finished, close the window – you will now be back at the search results where you can look at other results if you wish to
• Note that the records you have viewed already will be highlighted. If you haven't found the record you're looking for in your current session you should make a note of the records you have viewed as the highlighting will not appear next time you search. This will save you from accidentally searching for them again and will save you time.

Ordering certificates

• Return to the homepage by clicking the findmypast.co.uk logo in the top left-hand corner of the screen
• Click the 'Order BMD Certificates' link on the top right-hand side of the homepage. You will need to be signed in. The next page gives you all the information you need to order a certificate:



• When you send off to the GRO, remember to include your payment to them. The certificate will be sent out in the post and should be with you in a week or so. Once you have the certificate there's likely to be lots of very useful information you can use, which this will vary in accordance with the type of certificate
• Birth certificates can tell you when and where a person was born and their name. They can show you the father's name (where this is acknowledged), the mother's name and the father's occupation, as well as the informant: the person reporting the birth, who is often a family member

Look out for a new video tutorial on how to search the fully name indexed birth, marriage and death records coming soon.