Genealogy Chat

I ordered a birth certificate from the GRO, on the Ancestry image the ref was hard to read so I took Ancestrys word for it (having looked at the freebmd which matched!) I got a reply back saying 'We have not produced a certificate as there is no trace of the above mentioned person at the reference you quoted.' I phoned the GRO and they said that in this case they check the whole quarter, so the quarter I have given them is not right. Ancestry say it is A/M/J so how do I check!!!!! Any help greatly appreciated Fuzzy xx

What details do you have? Dea x

Hi Dea, Just popping out but the details I have are Mary Elizabeth Perkins 1845 A/M/J St George Southwark Vol 4 page 426 I think now it should say page 420, but the guy from the GRO said they check way back and forwards in the same quarter and to be fair they have found certs before for me when the ref is wrong. Fuzz x

I find when i have had this problem, I have rang the local registry office that issued the cert and they have been able to sort it out, Some records where never sent to the GRO? thats what i was told by some one at a Registry office in the north east I have looked at the image and I would put money on the page number being 420 Roy

The entry certainly looks correct though I am not sure what the page number should be either. If the certificate was never sent to the GRO then it would not be on their index, so I am a bit confused. You didn't order a marriage or death certificate by mistake, did you? It doesn't actually have the quarter on the top of the page on FreeBMD's image, so I am just wondering whether another site will have it. But it doesn't seem very likely that the image really belongs to a different quarter. Kate.

Have checked the image on Ancestry and 1837 but as you say it is not clear. It is definitely in the second quarter of 1845, vol no. is 4, but page no.difficult to read. District St. Geo. ? thought it might be St. George Square to start with -but don´t think it is.

Hmmm Well I agree the page number is tricky, but certainly her name has been indexed as Q2 1845, St george Southwark, Vol 4 (which is the corect Vol for that district). I have wondered before when this happens.....If you (or they) look up the other birth names on the same page number (whichever number you think it is!) and then they look for one of those births on the appropriate film, if they can find one of the other names, then your name should be within a few frames of that one (does that make sense?). I wonder if there is a film frame they cannot read (or are misreading) that is hers? Merry

The image looks like 420, rather than 426, but it's a close call. they are both valid page numbers. Could you email him a list of the names from each page number, for him to see if the others are right? Freebmd has 9 names on one page and 10 on the other. I can't remember how many there should be.

The quarter is the same on 1837 online too (though there is a little indexing problem on that site which made it difficult to find.) (But again, the actual image doesn't state the quarter at the top.)I suggest you double-check the details that you put on your order, and if they were correct then get back to the GRO saying that it is in the index and asking their advice. Kate.

Page range for Jun 1845 births from FreeBMD: Quarter Volume Lowest-Highest District Before/After Gaps Total Jun 4 413-459 St George Southwark 8,5 1 404 So the page range for that district was 413 to 459, which fits with the details you have found. And it does prove that the correct district name was St. George Southwark. Not sure how easy it would be to go the local register office route to get a 'St. George Southwark' certificate if the GRO can't find it. Perhaps somebody else knows? Kate.

Thanks for all your replies, I have just got in and read everything you have all written. thanks so much. am waiting to hear from the GRO, why oh why do I have a feeling of dread?!! I am going to have a few months off from all of this......well that is how I feel at the moment! Brain totally fried from constant banging against the wall!! I have met so many new cousins doing this and they recommend time out! I was mad before I started this, but now totally barking!! Fuzzy x