Search British nationals married overseas 1818-2005
About the British nationals married overseas records
These records provide details of marriages of British citizens that have taken place abroad between 1818 and 2005.
If you have a relative or ancestor who was married overseas, but was still classed as a British citizen at the time of the marriage, then it is quite possible that the British Consul or the UK High Commission in the relevant jurisdiction would have been notified of the marriage, allowing you to find the record within the GRO's Consular indices.
There are, however, some caveats to this - find out more here.
These records are fully name indexed which makes finding your ancestors' overseas marriages so much simpler. Previously you had to search for both spouses separately and match them up yourself as the records were not name-indexed. Now, not only can you perform just one search, we will actually match up your ancestors' marriage records, providing you with one definite marriage match, or a list of possible matches.
Please bear in mind the following when searching these records: where a place has not been assigned to 'region', it will be returned in all results where a region is selected. For example, selecting Channel Islands as a region will produce genuine Channel Islands results plus any entries where the place is unassigned.
Find out more about these records in our knowledge base.
Can't find who you're looking for? Click the 'search tips' link above for helpful advice on searching these records.
How to search the marriage records
We only need the last name of an ancestor to start searching these records for you. This is the only required piece of information, everything else is optional.
It's always best to start searching with basic information, like your ancestor's first and last name. If there are too many results, you can refine your search and add more detail.
You can click the 'refine search' button on the search results page to return to this search box and add more information.
If you know who your ancestor married
It's best to start with basic information, but if you know who your ancestor married you could use this to narrow down your search results.
Enter both partners' names in the relevant search fields and click the 'search' button. Findmypast.co.uk will only show you records that match both of the names you've entered.
If you know a woman's married name, but not her maiden name
If you know a female ancestor's married name, it means you actually know her husband's last name and her first name. It's easy to search findmypast.co.uk's marriage records with this information.
Here's an example:
Our ancestor's married name was Mary Fringe. We don't know what her maiden name was.
What we actually know here is a piece of information about Mary's husband and a piece of information about Mary. We know his last name was Fringe and that her first name was Mary.
You can therefore enter Fringe in the 'last name' field and Mary in the 'first name(s) of spouse' field, as the image shows below:
Understanding your search results
Your search will return a list of individual names, matching the information you've entered.
If you've entered spouse details in your search, your results will include a 'marriage matched' column. There are three levels of match:
= definite match. This person definitely married someone with the name you've searched for.
= potential match. There are a number of possible partners for this person and one matches the name you've searched for.
= potential match. There are a number of possible partners for this person and one matches the name you've searched for, but the person appears to be of the wrong sex.
What a marriage record will tell you
- Your ancestor's first names and last name
- The geographic place, country and year in which the marriage was registered
- Who your ancestor married (either a definite match or a list of potential matches, as mentioned in the section above)
- General Register Office reference number that can be used to order a copy of the couple's marriage certificate
Can't find who you're looking for?
- Try leaving the 'region' field blank. Your ancestors may not have married in the place you would expect, so you could be excluding relevant results by selecting the wrong region.
- Don't select a year range, or make the year range wider. The year you think your ancestors married may not be accurate, so you could be excluding relevant results.
- Keep the 'include variants' boxes underneath the name fields ticked. This means your search results will include spelling variations of the names you've entered.
- If your ancestor's name could be easily misspelled, try using a wildcard search. Just use a * symbol in place of a letter or multiple letters. For example, instead of searching for Jennings you could search for Je*ngs or *enning*.