Genealogy Chat

i am off to london in august and want to go to the records office while i am there.Has anyone been there and is it of any help when trying to find someone.This is the problem-- we have G/fathers name and his fathers but dont know his mothers name.

William, Mydleton Street akc FRC has all the Birth Marriage and Death indexes from 1837 to ?last year for the whole country in big ledgers which you search through by quarter, (four for each year) the legers contain the names of everyone in the country whose birth, marriage or death (depending which section you are looking at) was recorded in that particular three month period. It is fine if you have reasonably uncommon names but for Smith or Brown you are better off using the local registers for the area involved. It is big with a refeshment facility, and also contains the census on film for the whole of England (and Wales? never looked)for 1841 to 1901 (computer access and microfilm) There is also access to lots of other useful records. There is a web site which explains all this in much more detail, and it is a mine of useful information with lots of helpful but under-resourced staff and how to leaflets. Definately worth a vist, and its cheaper to order certificates there as well, and you can copy census entries for just 25p. Have a good trip Pam

Sorry for sounding so stupid but when you visit FRC in London what exactly do you get to look at? Is it just like looking at FreeBMD? where you get all the details to apply for the cert needed or can you actually see what was written on the entry? Am hoping to visit London soon so would be useful to know what to expect. Shelli

At the FRC you get to see the index books that freebmd were transcribed from (but they use fiche copies), they are large ledgers, ranged on shelving by quarter and year and differ in format depending on the date, the most recent ones are computerised, the slighly earlier ones in various printed/duplicated formats, and the very oldest ones are handwitten on parchment. You should always check a copy of the original index since free BMD is transcribed and there are keying or transcription errors so you could get the wrong certificate if you rely on them without checking. They contain the information you need to order a certificate, but dont give you any more detail than on free bmd. You can order them for collection or to be posted to you, and cost less to order than if you order by post. There is also a useful bookshop and the PRO also has a base there with Census and other FH related documents/fiche.

thanx for all the advise.its very appreciated. kaz