Genealogy Chat

Hi
Has anyone come across certificates missing at GRO. A contact of mine sent off for a marriage certificate giving the index info, place, month, year, volume and page no etc. He received a message back from GRO saying they couldn't find any such record.
Was wondering if it is worth going to the Register Office where marriage was recorded and that they might have a copy of certificate?? Is it worth trying this ??
Cheers Clare

Has their information been cross referenced with freebmd? Not saying this couldn't happen as I have always been fortunate to have certificates which were straight forward.
If you are local to the Register Office it would be worth a visit unless you want others to confirm your details first-jl.

Thanks Janet
I will try and go the Reg Office as it is local to me. I have looked at the image on FMP site and the details he gave are correct on that image.

The most likely reason the application was rejected was that one or more pieces of information that your contact entered on the application was different to the record.

Don't provide too much information, only the bare minimum necessary. It should only be necessary to quote the GRO ref and name, both exactly as they appear on the Index so check with Free BMD or similar site first. Quoting additional info is pointless and if incorrect, can result in rejection.

PS if ordering certs issued within the past 50 years on-line then you will need to have additional info such as the actual date of the event, but even then there are ways around this if the info isn't to hand.

Thanks IGP -
I will check back with him to see exactly what he provided

If you approach the Register Office, remember that the GRO refs mean absolutely nothing to them

Also that the GRO indexes by district......not by individual offices

An event registered in, say, Gloucester district would also include all the surrounding areas under its 'umbrella'

To echo IGP's advice, it's also true that even one letter different in the application can result in its rejection, so typing errors must be avoided

Hi Flick
The marriage in question was in Walsall in 1922. I may go to the local history place in Walsall and have a look through parish records too.
Cheers Clare

On the letter you got back from the GRO there should be a telephone number for them. It used to be 0845 603 7788.
Call them and ask the supervisor to check the details and if found, ask them to resubmit the application.

They process millions of these each year, and sometimes they get it wrong.

Thanks SBF (like the user name by the way - obviously a Hitchhiker's fan)
Will pass this info on
Cheers Clare

I do remember a thread on here where the GRO had assigned incorrect page numbers for several marriages, and therefore couldn't find the certificate.

Within each Volume there are pages and a range of page numbers is associated with each district. In this one case, the page numbers weren't associated with the district and the certificate was only found by contacting the local register office.

Rose

It is also possible that the certificate had not reached GRO from the local Registry Office.

It is known that there are certificates missing .................... not known is whether they got lost en route, or whether the local office forgot to send them!




sylvia

Sylvia, if the record had not reached the GRO it would not be in the index! Some records are missing from the index but they were either never sent, lost in transit or just simply missed off.

I had a birth cert problem years ago,
I could not find the record on the GRO index and spent about 6 months re visiting the index thinking i had just missed it, that was in the day's when you had to search page by page,

I new the record should be their it was for my Grand father born 1887
so i rang the registry office where his birth should have been registered and they found the cert, I asked them why it was not on the GRO and was told that although it should be on the GRO records did go missing between the local registry office and the GRO

Roy