Searching English Records .....

[Jean Jeanie]

An English friend has decided to start his family tree and needs help on where to find censuses and B.M.D.'s

He has asked for my help, but as all my relies are Scottish I don't know much about English research!

I have told him about 1837 online for B.M.D.'s Is there any where else/better?

I have also told him about the 1881 on familysearch and the 1901 on Genesreunited.

Any help for him would be appreciated.

Jean

[LesleyB]

Hi Jean
I'm a bit lost too when it comes to English research (I've had to do some but don't really know my way around) but the BBC site has some good videos for general info and getting started:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhist ... ideo.shtml
and lots more helpful info and links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/familyhistory/
and this is a good site too:
http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/

Best wishes
Lesley

[Clydesdale]

His main place for certificates would probably be the General Register Office on http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/. I will have to go down that line some time, but have no idea how to use it. Will save that for some other time

Cheers.

[garibaldired]

www.familyrelatives.org has a fully searchable index 1866 - 1920 as well as all the others GRO's and don't forget FreeBMD which is very good -and FREE!

Meg

[DavidWW]

www.familyrelatives.org has a fully searchable index 1866 - 1920 as well as all the others GRO's and don't forget FreeBMD which is very good -and FREE!

Meg

Hang on there ?!..... "fully searchable" as in the search engine finds for you records that match a forename and surname combination that you input, or searchable in the sense only of producing index pages that cover your surname of interest ??

FreeBMD is indeed searchable on the basis of a specific forename and surname, but, the last time that I checked, the coverage was 60% ............

David

[sporran]

Hello Jean,


the system for England and Wales (E/W) is much more difficult to use than the Scottish one.

The first point to make is that BMD images are not available. Certificates must be sent for at a cost of £7 each. They can be obtained from the appropriate local registry office, which requires only the name(s) and dates concerned, or from ONS (Office of National Statistics), and the latter requires an index reference. The indexes are what are on FreeBMD and other sites, and can be viewed at 1837online and similar sites. These indexes on fiches can also be viewed at many libraries and most county record offices, usually free of charge. Some counties (or cities such as Newcastle) have projects to improve those records, so search on the county name for those resources at:
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/ .

E/W records only the name in use for a person on indexes. Thus if Ann White married a Mr Black and then a Mr Green, she would be White at birth and first marriage, Black for the second marriage, and Green for her death. She would not be indexed under her other names, and obviously there is no cross-reference for death.

The age at death was recorded from 1866, and the spouse's surname from 1911. Before 1911, a spouse was found by having the same reference, but there were 2 marriages to a page (and therefore reference) and 4 in the early years after statutory records began in 1837. However, births do have the maiden name of the woman. Death certificates are almost entirely useless, given no previous history of the person.

An excellent site for the contents of certificates and the problems facing registrars is at:
http://www.dixons.clara.co.uk/Certificates/indexbd.htm .

For records before 1837, a visit to the appropriate county Records Office is necessary (note, not the Registrar's Office). However, they hold records only for that county. One point not appreciated by people is that churches did not stop keeping records just because statutory registration came in. Many church records can be found well into the 20th century and some almost to the current day. I was able to transcribe wedding details of 2 of my great aunts in the 1920s from the church registers, presented exactly as they would be on the certificates. However, you need to know where your relations were living, or be prepared to inch your way through many films if they moved around.

Records Offices have a wealth of other material for the county, as do local studies in libraries. A guide to resources in the UK is at:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/contents/ .

Ancestry UK has all the censuses indexed and viewable - including 1881 in its original form - except for 1841, but that is coming soon. Many names and places are indexed bizarrely, so some imagination is needed to search for people. One major advantage is that a search can be made on first names only, which helps especially in finding women who married unknown to you. Record Offices have censuses for the county only, and usually some Family History Society books of indexes (usually for 1851) are available.

But there is a fair warning above: the TV programmes disguise what is often a huge amount of work. For example, if you know only that someone was born, e.g. is on the 1901 census, you could be looking at fiches for each quarter for about 80 years, or 320 fiches, for a death.


Regards,

John

[garibaldired]

Hang on there ?!..... "fully searchable" as in the search engine finds for you records that match a forename and surname combination that you input, or searchable in the sense only of producing index pages that cover your surname of interest ??

FreeBMD is indeed searchable on the basis of a specific forename and surname, but, the last time that I checked, the coverage was 60% ............

David

Yes the search engine finds you records that match forename and surname combination which you input but only for 1866 - 1920. That's why it's good. Yes FreeBMD is not complete but it's a good FREE starting point and you can check coverage for each year. When you haven't got an equivalent SP................!
Meg

[DavidWW]

....snipped .......Yes the search engine finds you records that match forename and surname combination which you input but only for 1866 - 1920. That's why it's good. ..... snipped.........Meg

Meg

Thanks, - hadn't appreciated that. I've had some interesting experiences over the years scanning through index page after index page ...........

Does the search engine allow wildcards?

David

[garibaldired]

David,

No wildcards if I remember correctly.
I know what you mean about page after page of indices!!
Incidentally www.ancestry.co.uk has a free beta(?!) search of all English and Welsh BMD indices at the moment, timed to coincide with the BBC series I believe.

Meg

[Mez]

Meg - Thanks for your dot co dot uk tip. I hadn't found a rellie in yonks but found one straight away in Wales. It does give you heart! This chap may turn out interesting as it was rumoured he had more than one wife... We need an emoticon for skeleton (in the closet).

Sporran's contribution is so informative. Although the search facility's great, what would administrators think of placing it in sources? I realise we's ain't the 'talkin' pom' but it would be handy for the ones that escape the border.

Mez