RIP Sunderland Registrars Indexes

[Knight-Sunderland]

http://www.sunderland.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1399

I'm sad to report that the Sunderland Registrars Indexes, which I use almost every day, have removed the ability to learn the date of death of any resident who died between 1837-2007. They have vastly changed the service, merging the indexes with the application for a certificate service and in the process removing the ability to view the death dates. With this they have lost the title of having the best resource of any other registrar in England.

The ability to view death dates for residents who died between 1985-2005 was introduced in December 2009. This was expanded to include 1837-1970 in February 2010. Things were also looking up more recently when they added the deaths for 1971-1984 in December 2013. It was, as one of the librarians in the local studies told me, one of genealogy's "best kept secrets". Now it has gone, I am absolutely gutted. I will be writing to the registrars in a last ditch attempt to get the service re-introduced, but by the looks of the new website, they won't be implementing it again any time soon.

It was a free service, so I can't whinge too much, plus I got 4 and a half years worth of use out of it. But it is a great shame in today's digital age to see the effort to get more records and data online taking a step back, rather than forward.

RIP to my favourite genealogical resource of all time.   

[briann1]

The index's are still there K/S when you go to the site press to order certificates and just continue to answer the box questions and proceed and the index's appear

[Knight-Sunderland]

The index's are still there K/S when you go to the site press to order certificates and just continue to answer the box questions and proceed and the index's appear

The indexes remain yes, but the unique ability of having full access to all the death dates is sadly gone. 

[briann1]

I fully agree that it is a backward step, especially the absence of the B.O.R. button in the death index's
I have just e-mailed them with my views on the revamped page and I suggest anyone who is disappointed with the new look set-up does the same.It may have no effect but we can only try. 

[Ruskie]

Just stumbled upon this thread while browsing.

Although I am not familiar with the site, my immediate thought was .... Are the changes and omissions due to a plan to charge for viewing records which used to be freely available? The site old-maps comes to mind.

Or perhaps their database has been purchased by a pay to view company? There was another small company which provided death/burial information (whose name escapes me), who used to charge literally pennies to view a record. They were bought out by findmypast several years ago.

It just seems suspicious to me that a site would reduce what is available to view .....

[andycand]

Hi

The index in question is the Local Register Office index of Births, Marriages and Deaths and enables people to order certificates for Registrations held by Sunderland Register Office rather than the GRO. In some cases Local Register Offices have put their Indexes online themselves and others have allowed the Indexes to be put on various UKBMD site such as CheshireBMD. I haven't heard of any other Local Office supplying date of death on their index, I know that in at least one other case a new Superintendent Registrar insisted that some details be removed from the online index (from memory mothers maiden name for births pre 1911 and age at death from 1837) perhaps someone with contact in the Local Office could ask why this change was made.

Andy

[Knight-Sunderland]

Hello,

Just emailed the council, they say they are planning to reinstate the ability to view the death dates in the very near future. 

Jack

[briann1]

Hi, I have received similar information that the BoR button in the death index's are to return

[JenB]

Although I am not familiar with the site, my immediate thought was .... Are the changes and omissions due to a plan to charge for viewing records which used to be freely available? The site old-maps comes to mind.

Ruskie, this is the site in question http://www.sunderland.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1399

As Andy says, it's the local Register Office, as opposed to the GRO