General Register Office
and some other sources of records from abroad.
Registration of births, marriage and deaths in England started in 1837. Copies of certificates can be obtained from the General Register Office (GRO). It was not compulsory to register a birth, marriage or death with the British authorities whilst you were abroad, but if the event was registered, then a certificate can be obtained from the GRO.
The records of the GRO are part of The National Archives. Some of the records have a National Archives catalogue reference, series RG, but some of the records in respect of military overseas births, marriages and deaths do not. The National Archives or GRO documentation about the latter group of records is very brief.
The GRO records are closed to the public.
Overseas records series RG
The National Archives have a brief research guide "Looking for records of a birth, marriage or death of a British national at sea or abroad". More details are available in the book Tracing Your Ancestors in The National Archives by Amanda Bevan, (7th edn, National Archives Kew, 2006), "Chapter 8 - Births, marriages and deaths of Britons overseas or in the armed services". Available at the British Library.
| Series | Title | Contents details | Browse subsections | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RG 32 | General Register Office: Miscellaneous Foreign Returns 1831-1969 | Contents | Browse | |
| RG 33 | General Register Office: Foreign Registers and Returns 1627-1960 | Contents | Browse | This Fact Sheet from the now closed Family Records Centre advises RG 33/90-113 contains some entries, mostly 20th century, from the Princely States Bikaner, Eastern Rajputana, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Madras States, Mysore, Punjab States and Trivandrum (index - RG 43/15). |
| RG 34 | General Register Office: Miscellaneous Foreign Marriage Returns 1826-1921 | Contents | Browse | |
| RG 35 | General Register Office: Miscellaneous Foreign Death Returns 1830-1921 | Contents | Browse | Some 19th and early 20th century deaths in French territories in India are in RG 35/16 and RG 35/20-44. |
| RG 36 | General Register Office: Registers and Returns of Births, Marriages and Deaths in the Protectorates etc of Africa and Asia 1895-1965 | Contents | Browse | Includes records for Sarawak, Malaya (inc Johore & Selangor) and British North Borneo, commencing at varying dates. |
| RG 43 | General Register Office: Indexes to Miscellaneous Foreign Returns of Births, Marriages and Deaths 1627-1960 | Contents | Indexes to the non-statutory registers and returns in RG 32 to RG 34, and to certain Army and Statutory registers retained by the Registrar-General. Also appears to contain indexes to RG 35 |
You can search for these records on BMD Registers , (free search but pay to view) which is run by TheGenealogist.co.uk, a pay website, where the records are also available as a subset of “Births, Marriages and Deaths”
Alternatively, the Indexes to Overseas BMD available on Family Relatives (free search and requires a Adobe Flash 11 plug-in) and FindMyPast (pay to search) appear to be the indexes from RG 43, together with other indexes in respect of military overseas BMD.
Some indices to the RG series are also available to view online or download free of charge as part of the Digital Microfilm project at the UK National Archives
If you find a reference in the indexes to a record in one of the above returns, the following options are available:
- Request a copy online from the GRO (see below). It is unclear whether this record will be an image of the original record, or a transcript.
- View the returns on microfilm at the The National Archives, Kew, and arrange a print of the image if required.
- View RG 32, RG 33, RG 34, RG 35 and RG 36 records online at BMD Registers which ia a pay site. (You may search for free for these records). The images may then be saved to your computer and/or printed.
Military Overseas records for BMD
See Chaplains Returns.
London Metropolitan Archives
Another source for overseas records, but not part of the National Archives, is the London Metropolitan Archives which contains some overseas records previously held at the Guildhall Library. These records are explained in the FamilySearch Wiki article, "British Births, Marriages and Deaths Overseas", refer External links below.
Some of these records are available on LDS microfilm [1]
Note, some records from the London Metropolitan Archives are available on the pay website Ancestry, but not currently (March 2014) the overseas records.
England and Wales census records
See Census and British Army Records.
External links
Official
- Order a certificate online from the GRO. This is the only GRO website.
- Contact details for the GRO on Gov.uk, including email address for queries about certificates and advice to include ‘GQ’ in the subject of your email.
- Searching for overseas records Archived website GRO.gov.uk January 2006
- Research your family history using the General Register Office from Gov.uk
Other
- GRO Wikipedia
- This link by Louis R Mills is about civil registration in England, which commenced in 1837 and became compulsory in 1875
- British Births, Marriages and Deaths Overseas Family Search Wiki
- Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section: Leaflet Guides to Records: Births, Marriages And Deaths Overseas Note these records were subsequently transferred to the London Metropolitan Archives.
References