Genealogy Chat

Years ago I went to Somerset House and was able to look through the registers of BMD, these were orginal books one for each quarter. Are these now at Kew and if so can we still look at them?

Thanks

Karen

Hi Karen,

no for some reason only known to the Government, these books were mothballed somewhere and are not available to look at. BMD or other computers sites are the best.

Lesley

The Key Archives are lists of what records they hold.

They are at Kew but not available to look at, they intend to microfiche them at some time.
You can look on FreeBMD or ask for a look up is its later than the transcribed records they have to date.
These were the big ledgers with the GRO refs listed by the qtr for each year ,and they were sent there when the Family Records Office at Islington was closed about 2/3 years ago

Records of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales are kept in various places, but not usually available to view at The National Archives.


See here for more info:-

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Registeringlifeevents/Familyhistoryandresearch/DG_175464

Karen - I, too, went to Somerset House (in the 1960s), but what you could see there wasn't the registers but the GRO index. There was one vol per quarter (each for Bs, Ms & Ds). They clearly weren't the registers themselves as we know these ran to a couple of dozen volumes per quarter. There are several copies of these indices scattered around - one copy is viewable online at FreeBMD - use the view images link on their homepage - it's a rather klunky interface though. There are only 2-3 copies of the actual registers - one is with the GRO in Southport, the original B-, D- and sometimes M-register is with the local rego office, but some parts of original M-regos are with the church, or if they're non-current, deposited in some archive - usually the county records office. In these church cases, the local M-rego is a copy of these parts.

Thank you everyone. How disappointing though!

I used them last time to trawl through looking for my grand parents marriage and I was planning on going through them to see if I could find a birth of my mums sibling for which we have no date or name. The usefulness of those books was that I could pick each quarter and go to the surname and see the parents.

I think the online indexes wont help as I need to see the mother. Hope Kew microfiche soon.

I was on the Kew wesbite to see what they hold, was thinking of going in a couple of weeks, but everything I was interested in was 'not held at Kew'!

Karen

Karen

I think some of the larger Cities have copies of the GRO register in their Central Library. I am pretty certain Manchester does.

Mother's maiden names are only shown on the index after 1911 - if your mother's sibling was born after that, you should be able to search for the birth on freebmd or Ancestry.

It is still possible to search the images by name on Ancestry but it is a bit longwinded.

if your mums siblings were born after 1911 then you can search on both FreeBMD and Ancestry using just the surnames, if you locate your mum then you can establish the area

Actually searching online is much qucker than lugging those BIG ledgers off and on the shelves and turning around to find someone had taken the place you were standing at and using your pencil and pad you had there! did happen to me at FRO several times

You can still 'trawl' the books from the comfort of your home!

Just get anyone with the right surname, go to 'view image' and the page is there. You can do it quarter by quarter.

Thanks Shirley. I have Ancestry but it seems to be sporadic as to whether the mums maiden name is on the record or not. I'll have a look at BMD, thanks.

Its an old family mystery. My great aunt told us that my gran had 'gone off pregnant and come back not pregnant' - when we asked her she wouldn't say whether she had the baby or not (having said it she then clammed up and said it was all in the past and didn't matter!) but as this would have been 1930's I'm thinking she probably had the baby or is that naive?. So I don't know whether this happened before or after my mum was born or before or after grans marriage.

I'm hoping to find a birth with matching surnames of baby and mum in an area that makes sense to me and hey presto mystery solved - as if:)

And you made me smile - you are quite right re someone taking your place with the ledgers - or having to wait while someone painstakingly went through the one you needed!

Janice

Do you mean on FreeBMD? the only images i've found on Ancestry are the indexes with the names and GRO numbers.

Karen

Hi Karen,
Yes, but that is what you get in the big books. If you click on view image you get the whole page from the book so you can view all the entries not just the one you typed into the search.
Janice

I think Janice did mean on Ancestry. The images on there are of the books that you used at Somerset House.

After Sept 1911 they will have the mother's maiden surname for births and spouse's name for marriages.

Kew has had Microfiche of BMD for years, but I think now they are available online they have removed them from general access although you could probably still ask to view them. Not a lot of point though as all the indexes can be viewed online.

Sorry for being away. I appreciate your all your help.

The only images I've seen of BMD indexes have been lists of surnames with place of birth and then the reference number and I'd assumed that was the case for all of them.

I think my blonde moments have arrived because I've not found the equivalent of the books in the birth online indexes, however I now realise that I've not been looking at such recent births before now so I'll go and have a look now that you have all pointed me in the right direction. If I can do it all online so much the better up until now I thought trawling the actual books was going to be the only way.

More advice please -

As far as I remember the books gave the full name of the mother, are there any online records that do that?

Thanks.

I don't know of full names.
I usually see if I can find a marriage match once I know the 2 surnames and use that as a guide.

Do you want some help searching?
I could help now if you like.
Send a pm if you wish...
.
Gwyn

Hi Gwyn

thanks for the offer but I don't think I have enough info really to search. The reason I was looking for the books is that they enabled me to go through each quarter and look under a surname and the mothers name was there. On reflection I think these were the registers because they were filed by quarter and volume. i.e. the books relating to the GRO reference in the idexes. I can't seem to find an online version that will give the mothers first name.

I'm looking for a birth that is most likely under my grans maiden name. I'll pm you with more explanation and if you have any ideas I'd be grateful!

Karen

The books don't give mothers first name. They are exactly the same as the online indexes.

Karen - I think you're misremembering. Post 1911q2, all one gets is the Mum's Maiden Surname. I just checked the index I looked up - I remember it well as although there were only 10 births with my surname that quarter, there was another me - but born in another rego district. I was born out in the tules - less than 1000 births in my district that year. The other me was born in another district & had his mum's MS=Onion, not an easy name to forget - I've often wondered if it was really O'Nion - another name I've not heard of. Anyways, back in the 1940s, there'd been registration for 100+ y, so 400+ quarters, so 10000+ volumes of registers for each of B,M & D. The room just wasn't big enough Aside from the pedestal work table thingies, all else in the room was a guy at a wicket where you handed in your request (+money).

Not that it's really on-topic, but things are rather different in Scotland.
Also, some local rego offices also have their own local indices on-line. I've not seen one that gives the mum's full name, but some (e.g., Preston) do give the mum's MS back to 1837.