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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => London and Middlesex => Topic started by: Alison55 on Monday 22 May 17 15:50 BST (UK)
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How long does it take for GRO certs to arrive in the eastern US by 'standard' delivery? I ordered two certs from the 1850s, a Middlesex marriage and a Middlesex birth, in April. The GRO site shows them 'despatched', one on 2 May and the other on 15 May. I have not received either. I assume despatched means mailed or sent. Twenty days seems overlong for the first one. Should I make an inquiry? I am on pins and needles waiting for the information on these certs. Thank you.
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The 1856 marriage cert arrived late yesterday so it took 20 days from the time it was sent with standard delivery. Posting this in case anyone has a similar question.
It was the image, not a transcription, and has very helpful info.
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Hi Alison,
The same happened to me recently. I ordered a GRO cert on 24th April for a death, it was despatched on the 28th April (can't complain about that) but it didn't arrive until two days ago (23rd May) in Australia.
Same as you! That month seemed the l-o-n-g-e-s-t month, as I was waiting everyday for the mail to arrive hoping it would be there. As it turned out the cert was not for the correct person, so that was disappointing. I knew when I ordered it that it may not have been for the correct person, as one only has limited information to go by on the FreeBMD site.
Perhaps International Mail services have the go-slows at the moment!
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Earlsdau.....have you used the GRO site to check for maiden names for births or ages for deaths?
You need to register but it is free:
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/
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No nanny jan, I did not know that resource was available. Many times it would have saved a great deal of frustration in not knowing an age or maiden name!
Thank you very much! Anything else really useful you can tell me - hehe? ;D
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As the GRO makes no extra charge for overseas postage, I can only assume that envelopes which take a long time to arrive may be sent by surface mail.
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Earlsdau
I believe this facility has only been available for a few months on the GRO site, since being alerted on this site (thank you RC) I have been able to find births and deaths for my family tree.
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As the GRO makes no extra charge for overseas postage, I can only assume that envelopes which take a long time to arrive may be sent by surface mail.
If surface mail is the case then I wish they'd charge extra for air mail. My last few certs have taken over a month from dispatch date to arrive.