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For parish records, check out:
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/indexp.html
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1®ion=UNITED_KINGDOM_IRELAND
For BMDs, it's worth checking the local index as well as the GRO index. For what's online:
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/local_bmd
in particular http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk
Suppose my wife has a kid in Nelson. Nelson's in Burnley Rego District, but I don't go to Burnley to rego the birth - I go to the subdistrict office in Nelson to do it.
At the end of every quarter, the Nelson registrar copies out that quarter's BMDs onto the special GRO pages, and sends them to his boss, the district superintendant in Burnley,
who checks them over, and stacks them together with the returns from Colne, Padiham, etc (his other subdistricts), and ships them off to the GRO in Southport (formerly, London).
Now the GRO forms the N Lancs volume (8e). They start off with the Barrow stack, pile on Ulverstone, pile on etc, etc and lastly pile on Rochdale.
They do this for each of Bs, Ms, and Ds, then send the pages to the bindary, and index them when they get them back.
Marrs are slightly different, as here, many local registers are kept by the C of E vicars, and (after 1898) other approved persons.
So, at the end of every quarter, each keeper of a register has to send in 2 copies of the marrs they've recorded - one for the local office and one for the GRO.
Also, if during that quarter, a register got filled, that would be sent into the superintendent along with the copies for the GRO.
(Church registers would usually be sent to some local archive, like the county records office.)
Now, to locate an event in the local office, one needs to know which register it's in.
For Bs & Ds, this amounts to which subdistrict the event was rego'ed in; for Ms, which church.
One also needs to know which of their registers it's in - by 1895, Burnley subdistrict was getting thru 5-6 regos p.a. (the subdistrict would be split into 2 new subdistricts a couple of y later - Burnley East & Burnley West.
Finally, one needs a page # or entry #. The local regos had 500 entries - always 5 per page for Bs & Ds and 2 per page for Ms.
The local index usually chooses entry # for marrs, so one knows who wed whom, even pre-1912.
Here's an example where the local index might be useful:
Births Mar 1895 (>99%)
Shackleton John Burnley 8e 316
Births Jun 1895 (>99%)
Shackleton John Burnley 8e 264
Now the local index shows:
Lancashire Birth indexes for the years: 1895
Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference
SHACKLETON John Nelson Preston NEL/1/47
SHACKLETON John Padiham Preston PA/46/21
DAVIES Llywelyn Nelson Preston NEL/1/48
DUXBURY Alice Annie Padiham Preston PA/46/20
I might know I want a Nelson birth, so that decides which one I want, if I order from the local office (now Preston).
However,I might want to order thru the GRO.
Although ordering thru Lancs RD @ Preston wouldn't be a problem for me, some offices (e.g., Wigan) don't accept credit cards - just cash, checques or P.O.s - not too feasible if you don't live in the UK
So how do I decide which John Shackleton was born in Nelson - well click on the page # link on FreeBMD to see the other names on those pages.
Births Mar 1895 (>99%)
Davies Llywelyn Burnley 8e 316
etc
Births Jun 1895 (>99%)
Duxbury Alice Annie Burnley 8e 264
etc
I actually looked at all the local births beginning with D and none had an ref # exceeding 100.
If entry #s were being used, 80% would exceed 100, so it's clear page #s are being used here.
From the way the GRO volumes are formed, all the entries on the GRO page should be within 2 local pages of my John (alt., within 10 entries).
I gave the local look-ups above, and it's clear I want the 1895q1 john for a Nelson birth.
There is an alternative identifier that you might find in a local index, but not the GRO index pre-1911q3.
Lancashire Birth indexes for the years: 1898
Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference
SCHOFIELD John Burnley East Preston WORDEN BUE/5/70
SCHOFIELD John Nelson Preston NEL/9/23
As you can see here Lancs BMD have started retrofitting the mum's MS to their indexes.
They recently started on the Burnley East subdistrict - so here I might know e.g., Worden is not mine.
Incidentally, I think the older 2 Spencers were born in Colne, not Nelson
The relevant years for the younger 2 aren't transcribed for Nelson yet, so maybe they moved between births. Check the local index for the older 2's mid-names.
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Mmm - these are probably living people.
Archives tend to follow a voluntary guideline of not placing on the internet PR B&Ms which took place in the last 50 years. Completed volumes 'might' be available at the local Achive or FH centre.
Of course, there are always some exceptions, but you'll probably have to purchase the gro certificates as usual.
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Parish records, I thought of that one, but they don't appear to have transcribed the ones I want. If anyone has acces to those of Nelson, (Lancs?) I would be grateful for a look up. I am looking for details of the births/baptisms of the following Spencers: John P, born 1945/6, Christine A, born 1947/8, Margaret A, born 1948, and Nigel H. born 1959. Thanks. Bob
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There are also a number of on-line sources for viewing PR images, particularly useful for Church marriages.
Ancestry have a selection of the London and Middlesex ones up to 1920ish
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/EssexAncestors.asp for Essex
http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/ for Medway
and many more.
Some are free, some pay to view. Many people have Ancestry if you need a look up on that.
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Thanks for the replies, that's what I thought. I am getting much better at narrowing down the search, and the last certificate which arrived this week was exactly the right one. I only buy from GRO. Bob
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I will add, before you order a cert it may be to your advantage to get a second opinion by asking on this board for someone to check your info
it's very easy to make mistakes,
Roy
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No the TNA don't have the certificates the only way to see a certificate is to buy it,
Are you buying your certs from the GRO or though another site?
never buy from other than a local registry office or the GRO
all other sites will charge a premium
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/
Roy
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If I go to TNA armed with the GRO reference etc for a BMD cert, can I see the original certificate. I ask because I have spent vast sums of money on certificates only to find I have the wrong one. Bob Waight
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