Changes

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 with the authorities , then a certificate can be obtained from herethe GRO.

The records of the General Register Office (GRO) are part of the [[The National Archives|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 records series RG ==Read the The National Archives have a brief Research Guide research guide [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/gettingstarted/looking-for-person/bmdatseaorabroad.htm "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]].

{|border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0"!Series !width="350"|Title !Contents details !Browse subsections!Notes|-|RG 32 ||General Register Office: Miscellaneous Foreign Returns 1831-1969 ||[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=12201&CATLN=3&Highlight=&FullDetails=True Contents]|| [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/browser.asp?CATLN=3&CATID=12201&GPE=False&MARKER=0 Browse] |||-|RG 33 ||General Register Office: Foreign Registers and Returns 1627-1960 ||[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=12202&CATLN=3&Highlight=&FullDetails=True Contents]|| [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/browser.asp?CATLN=3&CATID=12202&GPE=False&MARKER=0 Browse]|| This [http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20060213205629/http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/frc/pdfs/british_in_india.pdf Fact Sheet] from the now closed [[Family Records Centre ]] advises that RG 33 /90-113 contains some entries, mostly from the twentieth 20th century, from the [[Princely States ]] Bikaner, Eastern Rajputana, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Madras States, Mysore, Punjab States and Trivandrum, in the series (index - RG 43/15).|-|RG 3334 ||General Register Office: Miscellaneous Foreign Marriage Returns 1826-1921 ||[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=12203&CATLN=3&Highlight=&FullDetails=True Contents] ||[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/90browser.asp?CATLN=3&CATID=12203&GPE=False&MARKER=0 Browse ]|||-113 which are indexed in |RG 4335 ||General Register Office: Miscellaneous Foreign Death Returns 1830-1921 ||[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=12204&CATLN=3&Highlight=&FullDetails=True Contents]|| [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/15browser. asp?CATLN=3&CATID=12204&GPE=False&MARKER=0 Browse]|| Some nineteenth 19th and early twentieth 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 || [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=12205&CATLN=3&Highlight=&FullDetails=True Contents]|| [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/browser.asp?CATLN=3&CATID=12205&GPE=False&MARKER=0 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 || [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/browser.asp?CATLN=3&CATID=12212&GPE=False&DOWN=FALSE&MARKER=9000&MARKERSCN= 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 |}

The Indexes to Overseas BMD available on [http://www.familyrelatives.com/search/search_browseoverseas.php Family Relatives] (free search) and [http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp FindMyPast] (pay to search) appear to be the indexes from RG 43, together with other indexes in respect of military overseas BMD.  If you find a reference in the indexes to a record in one of the above returns, the following options are available:

*The above View the returns are available on microfilm at the [[The National Archives|National Archives]], Kew.*View RG 32, RG 33, RG 34 and RG 36 records are available online at [http://www.bmdregisters.co.uk BMD Registers] which ia a pay site.(These are the returns available at December 2009, more may be added.).

==Military Overseas Records records for BMD==See [[Chaplains Returns]].

== England and Wales Census Recordscensus records==See [[Census]] and [[British Army#Other Sources|British Army Records]].

== External Links links ==*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Register_Office Wikipedia]'''Official'''

*Contact details for the GRO from [http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/DG_10011973 Contact details for the GRO] on Direct.gov.uk], including email address for queries about certificates.*Brief guide [http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Registeringlifeevents/Familyhistoryandresearch/DG_175464 Using the General Register Office to research family history] from Direct.gov.uk, which a brief guide that shows the limited details now available since the main GRO website was closed.

 '''Other'''*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Register_Office GRO] Wikipedia  [[Category:Organisations]] [[Category:Records]]