Getting started
4. Using birth, marriage and death records
The best way to begin to build your family tree is to work backwards. Start by using our birth, marriage and death records. Every birth, marriage and death registered in England and Wales since 1837 (up to 2006) can be found in the official GRO indexes on findmypast.co.uk.
Births
When you search our fully indexed birth records, the results will be in the form of individual names, rather than just the first and last name you'll find on the image. This means you should be able to tell if your ancestor is in the list just by viewing their name - although we always advise you to double check the original image, especially the volume and page numbers, before you order any certificates.
The birth, marriage and death records from 1984 onwards were recorded in a computer database only so there is no original image for records post-1984.
Viewing a person's birth entry provides two vital research clues. Firstly, you will discover where they were born. Also, if they were born after 1911, you will find their mother's maiden name, which is essential for tracing her birth and marriage. The registration district most likely pinpoints where the family were living, and may help you locate other ancestors who lived in the same area.
Fields explained
The following are useful explanations of the fields you will see on the search results details page:
Registration district
England and Wales are divided up into multiple registration districts, each of which covers a local catchment area within which the births, marriages and deaths must be registered.
Many registration districts are named after the main town in the district, but some of the earliest ones are now quite obscure. For example, if you want events for Southend in Essex from the 1840s, you need the district of Rochford. Some of the larger cities were covered by two or more districts: for example, at different times, Merseyside had districts named Toxteth Park and West Derby as well Liverpool. Of course, in the case of London, there were many districts because of the population size and density. Within London it is important not to become over-fixated on a single district, as a short movement by a family could easily take them into a neighbouring district.
Some districts are named after an area not a town, for example Fylde in Lancashire or Thanet in Kent.
Registration districts change size, shape and name over time. Some registration districts disappear and then re-emerge, perhaps under a variation of their original name. This process continues today, as unitary authorities take over and a single county-level registration district is created out of the many more local districts within a county.
Volumes
When civil registration began in September quarter 1837, 619 registration districts were grouped into 27 divisions, numbered with Roman numerals from I (west London districts) to XXVII (northern Wales). When the General Register Office later reproduced or rebound the indexes to the registers of this period, the original handwritten indexes were sometimes replaced with typeset copies in which the Roman numeral was replaced by its Arabic numeral equivalent (so that, for example, XIX became 19). The registration districts within these 27 divisions were identical with the already-existing Poor Law unions which pre-dated civil registration. This system lasted until December quarter 1851.
However, from March quarter 1852, this system was rationalised and 11 divisions created, numbered 1 to 11 and given an alphabetical suffix. For example, division 7 covers the east Midlands and is divided up into 7a (Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Rutland) and 7b (Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire). These are the volume numbers which you see in the General Register Office indexes. If you don't recognise a registration district name in the index, you will be able to work out roughly where it is by its volume number (ensuring you use the system relevant for that date!): i.e. if it is 7b, you know the district was in Derbyshire or Notts. This system remained in use until June quarter 1946.
In September 1946, a new numbering system was introduced, with divisions from 1a through to 10f. Most researchers find this system less satisfactory and logical, as the volume numbers did not always cover adjacent areas: for example, Norfolk and Suffolk were both 4b but were separated from Huntingdonshire, which was also 4b, by Cambridgeshire, which was 4a. This system lasted only until 1965. Thereafter, the pace of change quickened and districts came and went, were renamed and renumbered, in such a way that it ceases to be possible to provide a reliable countrywide overview good for all of the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s.
Throughout the entire period, the volume is the first part of the two-part reference used by the General Register Office to locate a particular bound register (or, of course, a microfilm or digital surrogate).
Page
The second part of the vital reference is the Page. The page number is quite simply the page in the register which contains the event of birth, marriage and death. If you apply for a marriage from 1910 giving the registration district, volume and page, the General Register Office will be able to find the right page out of the millions of registration pages and produce a certified copy (certificate) of the entry in the register book.
Incidentally, the number of entries on a page varies with event type and date. For example, marriage registers from 1910 contain two events per page (i.e. four individuals: two brides and two grooms). However, if I was looking at records for 1840, I would find up to four events per page (i.e. eight individuals: four brides and four grooms). Of course, not all pages of a register book have a full complement of records and it is not unusual to find fewer than the maximum.
Marriages and deaths
The 1837-1984 indexes are arranged alphabetically by surname, and within surname alphabetically by forename. Years are divided into quarters:
- January, February, March
- April, May, June
- July, August, September
- October, November, December
A quarter refers to when an event was registered, which, due to inevitable delays in registration, isn’t necessarily when it occurred. The death of a person who died at the end of March, for example, is likely to be registered in the April-June quarter.
Before 1984, the birth, marriage and death registrations were recorded in registry books. These have not yet been transcribed, but findmypast.co.uk offers indexed scans of each of the pages. When you search the pre-1984 marriages and deaths you’ll be shown pages for the period you’ve requested that may contain the name you’re looking for, but this is not guaranteed. You’ll need to check each image in turn to find the correct marriage or death.
When searching the 1984-2006 marriage and death records – which were recorded within a computer database – extra detail, such as a middle name, registration district and mother’s maiden name, can be added to narrow down your results. Certificates cannot be viewed online, but the indexes will give you all the information you need to obtain them.
Using a mother's maiden name you can search the marriage records to find the union that led to the birth record you started with. From 1912 the spouse's name is included in the marriage indexes and helps you ensure you have found the correct pair. Likewise, you can search for a marriage for the ancestor whose birth you've traced. If you do find their marriage you can begin to search for children (often referred to as 'issue'), using the spouse's name to approach the birth indexes.
Tip:
It is best to start your search in the period in which the event is statistically most likely to have occurred. If you fail to find the event then you should extend your search by several years either side. For marriages, a search from age 16 to 28 is a good starting point.
Finding a person's birth and marriage also makes it easier to find their death: you now know their approximate age and the area in which they are likely to have lived. If you're uncertain when they died, or indeed whether they have died, a search from age 60-80 in the death records is the best place to start.
From 1866, the age at death is included in the death indexes, and from 1969 an exact date of birth. This extra detail is invaluable when searching speculatively, or if you are researching a common name.
Tip:
To ensure you don't repeat searches, always make a note of the years and quarters you have searched.
With careful, patient searching of these indexes you will be able to extend your family tree and discover dates and places.
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