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Helen Little Nell, ref Rebekah's request

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Derek

Derek Report 9 Oct 2004 20:39

Hi Helen, I saw that you had offered advice on a website for obtaining certificates, nowt wrong with that, but can you/anyone tell me what the service is about, is it the one in Southport, is it better than the service offered by 1837 (not that I've tried it), Dinosaur Derek in France

Unknown

Unknown Report 9 Oct 2004 20:58

Don't know if this helps Derek, but when I order certificates from the GRO, I always do it via the link on the 1837 site. This is usually because I double-check any ref I find elsewhere with 1837 and then go ahead and order. At the moment, the certs are arriving within a week of ordering. Regards, Mandy :)

Geoff

Geoff Report 9 Oct 2004 21:10

1837 IS the one in Southport.

Derek

Derek Report 9 Oct 2004 23:47

Thank you, ladies and gents, solves and saves a prob, Derek

Unknown

Unknown Report 9 Oct 2004 23:57

Yes the GRO site is Southport. nell

Christine in Herts

Christine in Herts Report 10 Oct 2004 13:35

Another alternative is the local BMD sites which offer a combined search/application form service. Where they exist, you can find them via: http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/ It's not (generally) an online-ordering system like GRO, but it works at least as fast, in my experience. (I've ordered from both systems, the postal one a day or so later, but had the certs arrive in the same post.) It has some advantages - the GRO is a quarterly transcription of these local records so the local ones are one transciption less... except that they send transcribed (rather than photocopied) certs; using local register offices also reduces the risk of your record being one of the minute percentage that "fell through the cracks" at the quarterly stage. There's also the fact that a posted document has more flexibility about being able to add circumstantial info to make sure you get the right cert. They sometimes have more detail at the search stage, although not, generally, the quarter - just the year. Not all areas have local BMD websites and the amounts of info and frequency of updating vary considerably: W Midlands last updated 9 Dec 2003; several others last updated 7 Oct 2004. Not all the local BMD sites have the same format. Christine

Geoff

Geoff Report 10 Oct 2004 15:05

What Chistine says is generally true but the only one I've ordered from a local office was a photocopy and my last one from Southport was a typed transcription of an 1842 original!