Is ordering certificates from the GRO the only way to access them?

[Worthingbudge]

I'm doing a bit of research for a friend who seems to have an intriguing great grand parentage.  Family members are not keen to talk about it and clearly there was some name changing and possibly partner swapping going on!  The result is that I have a list of 12 births from the indexes that I would like to see the certificates for but don't want to spend all that money on ordering from the GRO. Especially as they may not give both parent names, and what names they do give may well not be true!

Is there any other way of accessing birth certificates (1900 - 1930 era) - eg visiting the National Archives or Record Office or wherever?

Many thanks ... Simon

[dawnsh]

Hi Simon

You can only 'see' the details by purchasing from the GRO or local register office.

Have you tried alternative sources?

1911 census, parish registers,

Dawn

[mshrmh]

Simon - some areas have a local index - these tend not to be complete, but in some cases they include maiden names before the date they were put on the GRO index. UKBMD has listings of these (see the county list on the left of the link) - several use the same software & can be searched together:
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/

Name changing may have been informal, but some were published in the official gazette - these are online & free to search via:
http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/
Those I've found in there have been anglicisations of "foreign" names, but there are others. The National Archives has some information about the various methods & what you might find:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/change-of-name.htm

Could there have been a divorce that caused talk at the time? The National Archives have some divorce records, searches can be done online, but you need either to visit or to order copies (at a charge):
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/divorce.htm

Newspapers may offer clues, either by birth marriage or death announcements or via reports of other matters. Other than some of the nationals there's not much 20th century material online yet. The British Newspaper Archive has some from the early years & is being added to regularly - free to search, but there's a charge to view the images:
http://www1.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

[Worthingbudge]

Many thanks Dawn and mshrmh for your replies.

Dawn - the 1911 census is unfortunately only adding to the confusion!  Parish records are a probably worth a look although I suspect that there may not have been many of the children baptised.

mshrmh - you've given some really interesting links there, I'll have a look over the weekend.

Thanks again ... Simon