Birth, marriage and death records
How civil registration works from 1837 (1855 in Scotland, 1864 in Ireland), how to search the GRO indexes free, what each certificate tells you and when a PDF copy is enough.
Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in England and Wales on 1 July 1837, in Scotland on 1 January 1855 and in Ireland in 1864 (Protestant marriages from 1845). These records are the proof of each generation in a British family tree: a birth names the parents, a marriage names both fathers, and a death closes a life. The indexes are free; the certificates cost money, so the skill is in ordering only the ones you need.
How the system works (England and Wales)
Local registrars recorded events and sent copies every quarter to the General Register Office (GRO), which compiled national indexes by quarter (March, June, September, December) until 1983 and by year after that. Each index entry gives the name, the registration district, and a volume and page reference; from 1911 the birth index adds the mother's maiden name, and from 1912 the marriage index adds the spouse's surname. The GRO's own online index, created from the registers themselves, shows the mother's maiden name for all births from 1837, which is a huge shortcut.
Searching the indexes free
- GRO online index (gro.gov.uk, free account): births 1837 to 1934 and deaths 1837 to 1957 (and later years being added), searchable by name, year ±2, district and mother's maiden name; deaths show age at death. Marriages are not included.
- FreeBMD: volunteer transcription of the quarterly indexes for births, marriages and deaths 1837 to the 1990s, virtually complete to the 1980s. The best place to find a marriage, because you can search both parties and see which entries share a page reference.
- Ancestry, Findmypast and others also carry the indexes, useful for their search tools, and local BMD sites (UKBMD links to them) index registers held by local register offices, sometimes with more detail.
What each certificate tells you
| Birth | Date and place of birth, name, sex, father's name and occupation, mother's name and maiden name (and any previous married name), informant's name, address and relationship, date registered. No father named usually means the parents were unmarried. |
|---|---|
| Marriage | Date and place, both parties' names, ages (often "full age" meaning 21 or over, or "minor"), condition (bachelor, widow…), occupations and addresses, both fathers' names and occupations, witnesses (often relatives), and whether by banns, licence or registrar. |
| Death | Date and place, name, sex, age, occupation, cause of death, informant (usually a relative, with address). From 1969 the date and place of birth and the maiden name of a married woman are added. The age is only as good as the informant's knowledge. |
Ordering certificates and PDFs
From the GRO: a certified paper certificate costs more and takes longer; a PDF copy of a birth or death register entry (for the years the online index covers) is cheaper and arrives by email in a few days, and is all a researcher needs. Marriages have to be ordered as certificates, from the GRO or from the local register office that holds the register. You need the index reference, so search first. Local register offices can sometimes be cheaper and faster for recent events.
Tips that save money
- Use the mother's maiden name in the GRO birth index to identify all of a couple's children without buying anything.
- On FreeBMD, a bride and groom share the same district, volume and page; checking that confirms the marriage before you order.
- The census tells you the eldest child's age and birthplace, so you know which quarter to look in for the marriage.
- If a marriage was in church, the parish register entry (on the subscription sites or at the record office) contains the same information as the certificate, often free.
Scotland and Ireland
Scottish statutory registers (from 1855) are more detailed than English ones: a Scottish marriage names both parents of both parties including mothers' maiden names, and a Scottish death names the deceased's parents. They are viewed pay-per-view on ScotlandsPeople; see Scottish ancestry. Irish civil registration indexes and many register images are free on irishgenealogy.ie; see Irish ancestry.
Before 1837
There is no civil record. The equivalents are baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish registers, which is where the census birthplaces send you next.