GRO Certificates

[dawnsh]

Hi Fue

In a word 'No' with regard to certs from the GRO, they are under no legal obligation to provide such a service and have withdrawn it. Guy has suggested a way of getting money back on inaccurate certs but this hasn't been tested (to my knowledge- feel free to comment if anyone has made such a challenge)

You may have more success ordering certs from a local reg office where you are unsure of something.

Do you have something in mind?

Dawn

[Fue]

Hi Dawnsh

Many thanks for your reply, I will have to look into the local reg office method.

Yes I have been trying to narrow down my grandfather's birth certificate. After at least two years of trying to ascertain  in what parish he was born, I have recently established that it was Newport but there are two likely candidates:

Births Quarter - September  1901                                 Doh!! I mean  Qtr - December 1901

Williams Arthur     Newport    11a  299                 Williams Arthur      Pontypool 11a 165
&
Williams Arthur     Newport     11a 195                  Williams Arthur      Pontypool 11a 181

                                                                              (He was born Llantrissant, Usk)

These are the only names that do not have a middle name and as far as I know he never had a middle name.
His parents were George Williams and Haddy Williams nee Richards.

It is such a shame that the GRO no longer offer the checking service as at long last I would be able to find out. Now with the increased charges, getting extra certs just to eliminate them is out of the question

[Sloe Gin]

You might find this thread of interest.  Local Reg Offices do vary in terms of the services offered, but many are very helpful indeed.  I always apply to the local office where possible, and only use the GRO as a last resort.

[andycand]

Hi

Whilst the GRO now don't officially offer a checking system there are a couple of ways to perhaps get the correct certificate.

If you apply online and say that you have the GRO reference numbers then the only information you can enter is from the GRO index, ie quarter, year, Registration District, Vol & Page numbers but if you answer that you don't have the GRO references then it takes you to a page where you can supply further information such as for a historic birth, fathers name, mothers maiden name, place of birth and date of birth, enter 1st January and they will search specified year and the year either side.

The downside is that, when things are back to normal, it will take 15 working days instead of about 3 days.

The other option is to apply by post and simply write the 'checking' information. It will be interesting to see how the GRO handle these.

Andy

[acorngen]

For births and deaths I use nothing but the local offices and the Welsh are the best of all.  I have rung them up prior to sending for a cert to confirm that they have the correct cert.  I have not yet been told that they can't confirm this like the English offices do.  It is in my opinion stupid because they save me the time of writing a cheque and them time in having to post the cheque back to me

ROb

[Sloe Gin]

  I have not yet been told that they can't confirm this like the English offices do. 

To be fair, some of them are likely to be much busier than others, and one really can't generalise.  I rang West Berks Register Office last month for a certificate, and they offered to check for it on the spot, calling me back to confirm a few minutes later - and checked some details with me to make sure it was the right one.  Couldn't have been more helpful.

[br2az04]

Another 11 came to day. 

I have scanned them all in now i am adding them to A*******. I have about 100 certificates that i have collected, so it is taking ages to add them and add the residence of the informants but it makes my tree a lot fuller and you get a better sense of their lives.

The scary thing is realising how many certificates i need to get. I know some people say there is no need to get all of them but it is something i want to be able to pass on. Looking back before i started i cannot believe how little i knew about my family past my grandparents. Considering 3 of my 4 grandparents are alive and so is my great grandparent it is pretty shocking.

[carol8353]

If your relatives are still alive should you be posting their birth or marriage certs on Ancestry?

Something to think about.

Carol

[br2az04]

No way, i learnt my lesson before when my tree was public before i had any documents saved. People joined up with my tree and just added all the names including people that were totally unconnected with theis.

Really cheesed me of so now only people who i invite can see them.