Tech Tips

Nick Peers reveals how to use the GRO’s site to order birth and death records for just £7

Nick Peers explains how to save money with the General Register Office’s indexes of births and deaths

The key to unlocking the stories of our ancestors’ lives begins and ends (quite literally) with birth and death records. And for events after 1837, when civil registration was introduced in England and Wales, copies of those records can be ordered from the General Register Office (GRO). Previously, copies of birth, marriage and death records had to be ordered as certificates costing £11, but now you can order uncertified digital copies of birth and death records for just £7 (marriage records still have to be ordered as certificates). The digital copies come as PDF files which are universal, and provide an exact electronic copy of the original document you can print out or attach to your tree.

Although sites like freebmd.org.uk offer indexes to the GRO’s records, there is an advantage to using the GRO’s own indexes when searching for births and deaths. Unique to them, they supply the mother’s maiden name for birth records and age of death on death records all the way back to 1837, meaning you are less likely to order the wrong record, saving you even more money as well as time. 1

SHW US $ *52 AFFRXQW Open your browser and navigate to https://www.gro.gov.uk before clicking the ‘Order certificates online’ link. Next, if this is your first visit, scroll down and click ‘Register as an Individual’ to enter your name, address, email and a secure password. Tick the terms and conditions, then click ‘Submit’. 2

SHDUFK TKH *52 IQGH[ HV Once signed up, log into the website to view the main menu as shown above. If you already have the information you need (name; certificate type; quarter and place of event; plus volume number and page) skip to Step 7; otherwise, click ‘Search the GRO Indexes’. 3

CKRRVH WKLFK IQGH[ TR SHDUFK At the present time, you can search the birth and death indexes only – one advantage of using the GRO birth index is that you can use the mother’s maiden name for all searches, not just those from September 1911 onwards. Choose ‘Birth’ or ‘Death’ to start your search.

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EQWHU WKDW YRX KQRZ First enter the event year (if you’re not 100 per cent sure when this was, extend the search up to two years either side of the date). More search fields will appear: names, sex, mother’s surname (if applicable) and so on. Fill in what you can – name, sex and year as a bare minimum – and click ‘Search’. 5

RHÀQH Results If too many results are returned, try adding extra details where you can. If you can’t find your ancestor among the list of results, try searching a different year, or widening the search by removing some of the search fields or loosening the ‘Exact Matches Only’ rule for names. 6

OUGHU YRXU CHUWLÀFDWH 2U 3') If you find a match, select it and you’ll see three buttons indicating the ordering options. The cheapest is PDF (£7 per record) – click this to jump to the ‘Place an Order’ section with the details already filled in. Scroll down checking the details before clicking ‘Submit’. Skip to Step 8. 7

OUGHU MDQXDOO\ If you already have the information you need, click ‘Place an Order’. Choose ‘England or Wales’, then select the certificate type. Enter the year that the event took place, then fill in the rest of the details from your own research. Choose the ‘PDF’ option, add a personal reference, and click ‘Submit’. 8

3D\ )RU YRXU 5HFRUG( s) When you reach the basket summary screen, review your order. You can order more records or certificates from here, or click ‘Checkout’. Click ‘Confirm’ when prompted, then choose your card type (Mastercard, Visa or Maestro) before entering the required information. Click ‘Make Payment’. 9

'RZQORDG YRXU 3') 5HFRUG V You’ll be given an estimated delivery date for when your PDF(s) will be ready – about a week in most cases. You’ll receive an email when they’re available – log into the website and click ‘My Orders’, then enter your order number or use the date picker to locate and download your PDFs.