Genealogy Chat

does anyone know how I can find out what the original name would be if that person had changed it by deed pole. I have a ref number but don't know how to find the information.

I was on this site earlier today looking for a relation .. http://www(.)gazettes-online(.)co(.)uk/ and someone with the surname I was looking for was in that edition saying that he no longer wanted to be called Gordon Cameron Capstick but would be known as Gordon Cameron .. it was a legal notice, so why not try looking there. Ali

Don't know if this is of any help (taken from the website of a Deed Poll service) : Contrary to popular belief, there is no central register of name changes in the United Kingdom. Deed Polls are not registered anywhere unless they are 'enrolled' i.e. lodged for safe keeping, in the Close Rolls of the Chancery (from 1851 to 1902) and from 1903, in the Enrolment Books of the Supreme Court of Judicature, which is located within the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, London. Enrolling a Deed Poll provides a public record of a person's name change and since 1914 the details of the name change are published in either the London or Belfast Gazette [What is the London Gazette]. Unnervingly, the person's name change details and home address are also published on the London Gazette's website for all to see. Fortunately, it is not a requirement to enrol a Deed Poll. Furthermore, because enrolling significantly adds to the cost and the time taken to change a person's name and because most people who change their name only wish to inform those who have a reason to know, only one in every two hundred Deed Polls is enrolled. Deed Polls that have been enrolled at the Royal Courts of Justice in London remain there for about five years. After which (and going back to 1851), they can be found at the National Archives, which is located at Kew in Richmond, Surrey. For further information about enrolling a Deed Poll, contact the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2A 2LL or telephone 020-7947 6000.

Where did your reference number come from?

This gets you to the London Gazette online Archive: http://www.gazettes-online.*co.uk/index.asp?webType=0 (remove *) There's a link to the actual archive, top-right, and then you need to scroll down to the Search-link. Christine