English records

[Orlaith17]

Can anyone help please? I have researched my own family tree for years, using both Irish and Scottish records. We can view certificates of births, marriage and death in Scotland's People if they are sufficiently old to do so. I am now researching my husband's family, and all records are in England. Is there an equivalent of Scotland's People for English records, where I can purchase credits to search and view records? I have used Ancestry, but that has only given me the index pages with no information except year, a three month period which covers the records, and the name of the person. In the case of a marriage, it gives only the surname of one of the parties. I am hoping there has to be a Scotland's People equivalent for English records? Thanks.

[StewL]

Hello Orlaith17
Unfortunately there is no system in place in England to view records like Scotland, you can search for an individual but you have to order and buy the document which is then posted to you. I had to do this for my ggreat grandmother who was born in England of Scottish parents, not even sure if Ancestry can help as I never use it.
Oh, and I recall it wasn't cheap to do either.

[maggiehill]

Hi

My husband is English born and bred in London. He has found and downloaded all his family actual birth and marriage certificates on Ancestry. Plus all his Parish records are also there.

When he started he always said that the Scottish records were the best but now he does not think so.

Maggie

[carolineasb]

Hi there,

Maggie I'm really surprised that this is so as I have English relatives and I also have a subscription with Ancestry but I have not been able to see the actual certificates of BMDs for them. I am on other genealogy sites and people on there have always said Scotlands People is the best site because of the low charges compared to other places in the UK and the rest of the world and the ability to see the certificates right away as opposed to waiting on them being posted out by GRO etc.

Can your husband advise how to download the certificates?

Many thanks,

Carolineasb

[trish1]

It will depend on where your family come from as to whether primary records are available on ancestry. The civil records of birth, death, marriage - from 1837 are only available via GRO or individual counties at (I think) just over 9 pounds each. Various archives and family history groups have made their church records available to ancestry. These are baptisms, marriages and burials. The marriage is exactly the same as the civil marriage record (forwarded by the Church to the civil office) but the baptisms and burials are not the civil records although they may contain similar information. Baptisms in England often (but not always) include birth dates. They rarely give the mother's maiden name. The church records online go back prior to 1837 but do not usually go forward to the extent of the civil records. e.g. London marriages are online from 1754-1921.


Ancestry provides only the index to the GRO records - and never buy certificates through ancestry - always go to GRO online - much cheaper than ancestry
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/ You will need the index detail to order the certificate. This can also be obtained via FreeBDM
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

Some of the counties that do have online images on ancestry are London (London Metropolitan Archives), Lancashire, West Yorkshire and Warwickshire as examples. If you scroll through the card file for all UK BDMs you will find them listed - or search for your county.

Trish

Although Maggie says birth certificates - to the best of my knowledge they are baptisms. Post civil registration 1837 many people did not baptise their children (which the church was aware would happen, so they fought against civil registration) so the records for baptisms aren't exhaustive. Most, however, continued to be married in the church so these records are more comprehensive. In most cases they are for the Church of England only.

This describes the baptism (and a few birth) records from the LMA - ancestry describes each of its record sets in this fashion.

London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906
This data collection consists of baptism records from over 10,000 Church of England parish registers (including Bishop’s Transcripts) in the Greater London area. These are taken from the registers held at London Metropolitan Archives as well as those formerly at Guildhall Manuscripts Section. It also includes registers of births and baptisms that occurred in workhouses operated by the Boards of Guardians. The parish registers cover the years 1813-1906 whilst the Board of Guardian records cover the years 1834-1906.

[carolineasb]

Thanks Trish for the info.

[Orlaith17]

Thank you everyone. I had searched in Ancestry as am a full member, but only got index pages showing the registration had taken place, along with a whole load of others. No individual details at all. I had imagined the records office might allow searches like in Scotland's People where you can purchase credits to view them. I will try different searches in Ancestry.

[maggiehill]

Orlaith17

Link for London Metropolitan Record

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/gro ... t_archives

Maggie

[trish1]

I had imagined the records office might allow searches like in Scotland's People where you can purchase credits to view them.

Some years ago the GRO let out a contract to digitise and presumably put on line the bmd records of England/Wales - unfortunately after about 3 years the project failed - and I've not heard of it being planned again. Perhaps in the fullness of time

Trish

[Orlaith17]

Thank you for that link, Maggie. My husband's family were from the London boroughs so I may well find some useful information there.