Q. Are you able and willing to obtain copies of certificates (relating to births, marriages and deaths registered in England and Wales, from July 1837 onwards) from the General Register Office?

A. I do regularly order certificates on behalf of others (and occasionally in connection with my own family); full details of entries in the GRO records are available only by paying for such copy certificates. These can now be ordered online. Digital copies of the GRO indexes, 1837-2005 or thereabouts, are available on various websites, while databases created from some or all of these indexes are also available online in various locations such as "Ancestry.co.uk" (including the wonderful pioneering work of "FreeBMD", now available through Ancestry.co.uk as well as on the original FreeBMD website), "FamilyRelatives" and others. All this helps to make finding the required references easier, even though full details of the original entries of BMD are not available online and this does not seem likely to change in the future (unless new legislation is brought in), according to the notes on the IPS website - see http://www.ips.gov.uk/cps/rde/xchg/ips_live/hs.xsl/1090.htm - about the latest GRO digitisation project. These authoritative notes include the following comments:- "Current legislation in England and Wales does not permit the register entries (certificate information) to be made available online. However, the provision of online access to the indexes will provide greater accessibility and improved ease of use for those people undertaking family history research."

Q. When are the new improved indexes likely to become available online?

A. The notes on the latest GRO digitisation project, just mentioned above, include the following comments in response to this question:- "Overall delivery timescales are not yet available and we will only be able to publish such target dates once they have been agreed with a supplier. It should be noted that the project will be subject to the standard governance and approvals applied to all government projects including an Office of Government Commerce (OGC) Gateway Review. Once procurement preparations are complete, the project will seek the relevant approvals to launch the procurement of a supplier........ We aim to be in a position to award contracts to the successful supplier in first quarter 2011."

Q. What do you charge for obtaining copies of certificates from the GRO?

A. I am happy to make online searches in the GRO indexes for given entries and to obtain copies of certificates, but naturally have to pass on their cost, now (from April 6th 2010) £9.25 per certificate, in addition to my own fees (based on £20 per hour) and any other expenses - especially onward postage (from my home address to the end recipient, that is).

Q. I understand that it is possible to have such certificates sent by the GRO direct to anywhere in the World without incurring additional costs for postage. This seems a very valuable service - don't you ever make use of it, to save on both time and the onward postage to the end recipient which you have just mentioned?

A. I am willing to apply for GRO certificates online and have them sent to my own address, only. After noting all relevant details, I will then forward any such certificates to you by post. This will naturally involve some extra costs for postage. However, the GRO will indeed send certificates to any delivery address, in any country, which is supplied to them, without further charge for postage. Should you wish to take advantage of this, you will need to register on www.direct.gov.uk/gro and obtain your certificates yourself, direct from the GRO.

Q. If I decide to order certificates to be sent directly to me as you have just suggested, would there be any disadvantages in approaching things in this way?

A. The only disadvantage would seem to be in cases where I am undertaking further, continuing research on behalf of the same client, for which it would naturally be helpful - if not, indeed, in many cases essential - for me to have knowledge of the full details given on such certificates, given that these, at least in the case of birth and death certificates, cannot be obtained elsewhere.

Q. Surely this is not an insurmountable difficulty?

A. No - it is easy enough to get round this problem, if the recipient in such cases simply scans the certificates on receipt and emails me such scanned copies. While a typed copy of the details of any certificate is acceptable, I really prefer to be able to refer to a copy of the original certificate so that I can interpret the details myself. Occasionally I may even notice something which might not be immediately obvious, but may be of help in continuing with the research project in question.

Q. Why did you say only that full details as given on "birth and death certificates" cannot be obtained elsewhere - what about such full details in the case of marriage certificates, then, and why did you not mention those in this context?

A. Unlike the details given on birth and death certificates, which are unlikely to be found elsewhere in exactly those forms, entries showing marriages from July 1837 onwards in parish registers (etc) normally give the same details as those which will be provided on marriage certificates issued by the GRO. It is even quite likely that these will be somewhat more helpful than a certificate, as they will usually show the original signatures of any parties, witnesses and officiating persons who were able to sign their names (or the "marks" of those who were unable - or unwilling - to sign their own names - which may in themselves prove of interest). Therefore it is true to say that full details of marriages from July 1837 onwards may well be found by other means than a GRO certificate. Digital images of some such marriages are even available online, for instance those for the Medway area of Kent on Medway Archives and Local Studies' "City Ark" website, or those for the London area available on Ancestry.co.uk - the latter even being fully indexed.

Q. What about delivery times for certificates being sent to overseas addresses?

A. The GRO's stated aim is that these should take only slightly longer to arrive than certificates sent to UK addresses. Faster delivery options are also available, by contacting the GRO Call Centre, on +44 (0)845 603 7788.

Q. Why should I pay you to obtain copies of certificates for me, if it is so easy for me to order them online myself and have them sent direct to me, even though I do not live in the UK?

A. Indeed, there is no reason why you should not do this yourself, but wherever you live (whether in the UK or elsewhere), it is advisable first to obtain the full GRO index reference for any certificate you require, perhaps from Ancestry.co.uk or one of the other websites offering access to these indexes. Access is also being provided to microformat copies of the indexes at various selected locations in the UK, while other copies are available at, for instance, the Society of Genealogists' Library in London. A full list of places where copies of the GRO indexes are on public access, both in the UK and overseas, can be downloaded from www.direct.gov.uk/gro

Q. I now have the references I need - what do I do next?

A. To order certificates securely online using your credit or debit card, simply visit www.direct.gov.uk/gro and follow the relevant links to register for this service.

Q. I do not like ordering things online, in view of the stories I hear so often about identity theft and the like. As personal application for and collection of copies of certificates at a central location is no longer possible, is there now no way to obtain these, other than by using the GRO's online ordering system or the services of yourself or another similar researcher - as I cannot really afford to employ someone to do this for me?

A. Telephone orders may be placed via the GRO Call Centre on +44 (0)845 603 7788 and there are still other options available, including postal ordering. See the useful summary, with a number of links to other websites, on www.direct.gov.uk/gro

Q. As the original General Register Office indexes of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales from July 1837 onwards are no longer available to the general public, what happens if I really cannot decipher an entry online or on the microfiche?

A. Despite the best efforts of those who have endeavoured to make these indexes available online, with great success, there is unfortunately still sometimes nothing like the real thing. Fortunately the GRO is aware of these occasional problems and will always do its best to help in such cases, by checking any illegible or doubtful references for members of the public. For details of how to obtain clarification of illegible references, among other useful notes, please visit the following URL:- Using the General Register Office to research family history.

Matthew Copus
307 Dale Street
Chatham
Kent ME4 6QR

Email: info@mcopus.co.uk
Web Site: www.mcopus.co.uk