Genealogy Chat

Just to make those of you waiting for certificates green with envy, I ordered a certificate on-line at 1321 on Monday 13th. The certificate was delivered this morning, Wednesday 15th at 0921. I used Hertfordshire County Council's on-line service and it only cost £8! Well worth the extra £ for not having to wait for the GRO to deliver. If you know the details of who you are looking for, give it a try. Has anyone put together a list of local register offices that deal promptly with certificate requests? I've dealt with Durham, Truro, Stafford & Sandwell (West Midlands) and have found them very speedy. Anyone want to add any more offices? Or even ones to avoid? Di

A full list of offices and links to them can be found at the Genuki site. The certs aren't quite as 'pretty' as the GRO certs and for a marriage you may well have to quote the church before a cert is issued. In my experience most local offices now copy the original entry,but some still issue a 2006 handwritten or typed copy of the record entry,it's always worth a quick phone call before ordering. Cost is usually £7 via postal application and cheque payment,£8 on the flexible friend. Most offices have a website (usually the county council) where you can download an application form or even order online. Glen

Blimey - thing is, most of the London ones just direct you to the GRO.

Lucky lucky you! Not waiting on certs but that's good timing I think the quickest I had some delivered was 3 days. Hope the cert gave you the info you needed!!! Zoe

Thanks Zoe it did!!! I really hit the jackpot today. Di

Hi I've looked on Genuki but cannot find details of the offices that would deal with the death certificates for the Coventry area in the 1840's and 1850's Does anyone know who that would be? Cheers Lyndsey

The Isle of Wight is very quick to reply. You can look up the Free BMD, click on the individual and download an application form from the IoWFHS.

Kingston-upon-Thames and Sunderland were both very quick and helpful but they were both hand-written and I do rather like the orginal ones better!!! Tammy :~)

Southampton used to phone you to explain if they had not been able to find the cert and get it issued on the same day as you made your request (they take card details over the phone).....all apologies....we will do it first thing tomorrow! Same for if you phoned after around 3.30pm.....''We are so sorry, we MAY not be able to get it into today's post''!! LOL I haven't used them in two years though, so don't know if things are still the same! Merry

Cambridge and Hartlepool have a very quick turnaround on orders, although I haven't ordered from them since the last WDYTYA. Jane.

Further to Lyndseys' question,the Coventry area may come within one of several possible offices. If the bmd index number is known then the district number will tell which office is required. It may be an office in Warwickshire,Solihull,Leicestershire or possibly Oxfordshire or Northants. Seeing as the area is close to Lutterworth,(Leicestershire)Daventry(Northants)Birmingham(Solihull)and could be Warwick direction,it's worth noting the reg district from the bmd index,but the GRO number is not required (in fact it's different) for an application through a local office. Glen

I had a 5 day turn around on a marriage certificate from Lancaster . It was the original printed on to a 'long' certificate with hand written extra details. I used the on line form from the Lancashire BMD site. The cost was seven pounds plus a stamped, self addressed envelope. Helen

ive found hartlepool and sunderland r quick when it comes to ordering certificates

I've ordered by post from Durham, Newcastle, Guisborough & Middlesbrough, all within the last 6 months (but before the last series of WDYTYA) In all cases the reply was within 3 days, and about half they must have processed it the day it was received. £7 plus SAE. These were all from their on-line indexes, so the marriages were not a problem. You can print off a form that has their own local reference number on. Only drawback - as previously mentioned- all were modern copies, not photostats of their originals. On a number of occasions they have sent the cheque back uncashed when the checking points didn't match (eg father's name). Invaluable when looking for an Isabella Watson (about as common as you can get in Northumberland!) because I suspected she was illegitimate so all I had was her MOTHER'S first name & the name of the village she was born. Tees Valley offices you can email first with points to check, so if its wrong you haven't even lost the price of the stamp.

Hi Glen/Dianne Thanks for the info. Since posting I have discovered the area I need is Nuneaton. I've ordered the certificate I want and have been quoted a week for delivery. The helpful lady I spoke to told me they are very busy due to a change in the passport laws? This is the first time I've ordered from a local office (as opposed to the GRO) so here's hoping I've got everything right! I'll post to let you know how long it took

Sorry to have a grumble but you did say we could moan about the bad ones? Manchester took 2 weeks and then phoned me to check the district I had quoted was correct. I assured them it was the correct district, the certificate arrived 5 days later. This was last year so maybe they've improved? Re passports causing delays, childrens passport applications now have to include a FULL birth certificate. If either parent was born after 1983 their FULL birth certificate also has to be sent.

Order from Wakefield yesterday lunch time - was waiting for me when I got home this evening. Looks like a copy of the original - and cant see a difference between that and ones ordered from the gro. (still waiting on 5 ordered 26th Feb by the way)

I rang Maidenhead & Windsor Register Office on Monday and they said they would try to turn my request for a death certificate around in a couple of days, if I put a cheque in the post to them. I wanted it for my mum's 71st birthday on Sunday (it could be her birth grandfather's death certificate, she was adopted and we can't find the mother's birth/death details at the moment). I explained this to the clerk and she said put a note on it that it was needed urgently for a birthday and they would certainly see what they could do to turn it around so that I got it before the end of the week. This is the first certificate that I've ordered from a local office so I'm keeping everything crossed that it arrives in time and possibly tomorrow morning! Another death certificate, could be my mum's cousin's cert, was ordered from GRO on 3/3/06 online and it has not appeared yet. Westminster Register Office wanted the exact dates of the deaths etc, something that I could not provide as I only had the quarter and GRO index no. and so I'm not going to bother trying to order direct from them. I found the info on a website, possibly GenUKI. Claire

Thanks for all your replies. It's interesting to see that some register offices are much more helpful & quicker than others. I don't think it a bad idea to 'name and shame' as it's a service we're paying for. There was a similar thread about records office staff a couple of weeks ago. Di

Just to make you envious I found last weekend 3 original certs 1 dated just over 100years!!! Didn't need GRO in this case I'm glad now.