Local Register Offices

Local register offices are where births, marriages and deaths are registered in England and Wales. These send the details to the central General Register Office (GRO), and it is from the GRO that most people order their BMD certificates. Click for more information about ordering BMD certificates from the GRO.

However, the GRO is not the only place to obtain a BMD certificate. It merely has a copy. It’s just easier to consult the GRO’s national index, especially if you don’t know where your ancestor was born, married or died.

If you cannot find your ancestor at the GRO, look locally.

Why Can't I Find My Ancestor at the GRO?

You need to consider the procedure that was followed:

Your ancestor’s original details were deposited locally.
Someone there copied the BMD certificate by hand.
Every quarter, the Superintendent Registrar sent these copies to the GRO.
The GRO indexed these copies and kept a record of the details.

Therefore, when you look at the GRO index, there have already been several opportunities for errors to occur. Your ancestor may have been omitted from the GRO index, or indexed under the wrong name (depending on how careful the clerks were). Or perhaps your ancestor's details were never sent on.

Online Indexes

If you can’t find your ancestor on the GRO index, you can go to the local office. Some have their indexes available online. If you are lucky enough to have an ancestor living in any of the areas below, it’s worth searching these indexes, as they may give further information. For example, you may get the church where the marriage took place, or the maiden name of the child’s mother.

Note
The reference numbers will be different from those of the GRO.

Counties

Cambridgeshire Local Register Offices
Cheshire
Hampshire - Isle of Wight
Kent
Lancashire
Somerset - Bath
Staffordshire
Warwickshire
Wiltshire
Yorkshire

Regions

North Wales
North East
West Midlands

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