Genealogical and historical information and links for anyone researching their ancestors in England and the British Isles

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Contents of a
birth
certificate
Contents of a
baptism
record
Contents of a
marriage
certificate
Contents of a
death
certificate
Contents of a
burial
record

Birth, marriage and death certificates

From 1st July 1837 all births, marriages and deaths had to be registered by law.

If you have enough information on the person you are looking for then these certificates can be ordered from the General Register Office.

If you are not so sure of names and dates then
you may need to do your own research and look through the GRO indexes yourself. This can be done online or at various record offices which hold copies of the indexes.

The different certificates contain a variety of information, of most interest is the birth certificate from which the names of the parents can be found together with the maiden name of the mother. The marriage certificate is also of particular interest in that it names both fathers of the bride and groom.


Parish registers : Baptism, marriage and burial records

Before registering became mandatory in 1837 the available records were mainly restricted to the parish registers which recorded all events which took place at a church such as baptisms, marriages and burials. These records, depending on the parish, can go back as far as 1538.

The baptism, marriage and burial records are kept at local record offices - see counties - or sometimes at the churches themselves. The Society of Genealogists in London has a copy covering the whole country.
Local libraries may also hold registers.

The International Genealogical Index has millions of baptism and marriage records available online. The National Burial Index is an incomplete but extensive collection of burials available on CD-ROM. Both these resources are transcriptions and therefore prone to error and so the original registers should always be checked if possible.



Information Genealogy in England