TalkingScot.com

I seem to be very slow on picking up genealogy updates & have only just found out that England now have some of their indexes online. The birth indexes include mother's maiden name for the years prior to 1911, not previously available. Years ago GRO was going to digitise all their indexes and certificates - the idea fell apart when the contractor couldn't deliver. Seems it has continued in the back ground. For anyone like me who is late to the party - here are some of the details - I don't seem able to find much info on the indexes

PDF Pilot Phase 1:
Since the 9th November, we have been trialling a PDF service for registration records. Records will not be immediately viewable, but emailed as a PDF.
The pilot is in 3 phases, starting with our digitised records:
Births: 1837 – 1934 and 2007 on
Deaths: 1837 – 1957 and 2007 on
Marriages: 2011 on
Civil Partnerships: 2005 on
Full details are in ‘Most Customers Want to Know’
Phase 1 closes on 30 Nov, or when 45,000 PDF’s have been ordered, whichever is sooner. Details of Phase 2 (3 hour PDF Service) and Phase 3 (Records not Digitised) will be announced shortly.
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/cert ... o_know.asp

To use the indexes (or the PDF trial) you have to register as a user. If you are already a GRO user after logging on, you receive an activation email - if you haven't yet received same.
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/cert ... /Login.asp

Trish

Apologies if this has already been discussed elsewhere

Thanks, Trish,

I did know about it, but didn't think to post it here Shame on me! The new index makes it easier to see if the record you are ordering is the correct one and the option to order a pdf instead of a certified paper copy is a great help (and £ savings) for genealogists. The pdf option is on trial, if I understand correctly, and will stop soon. The demand has been tremendous, though, so it is to be hoped that they will continue the service.

All the best,
Sarah

Hi Sarah - no worries - at the minute I'm more interested in the index than the certificates. If they created pdfs or images at the same cost as for Scotland I could be persuaded to get some certificates. It is good however, to be able to check the mother's name - I have many instances where completing a family becomes difficult with multiple cousins having the same name and living in the same district - so I'm back tracking to check some of these. Probably not as useful as it would have been 10 years ago, but an interesting development. Scotland leading the way - again.

Trish