A Suggestion - local Register Offices

[Sloe Gin]

Leaving aside the current debate raging about the price of GRO certificates ....

It's a fact that some local Register Offices provide a better service than the GRO, and those of us who are able to take advantage of this have reason to be grateful to them.

What I can't see anywhere is an index to local ROs describing what you will get.  Some, I know, don't offer a genealogy service (most London districts, I understand).  Some will issue a modern transcription, typed or handwritten, while best of all, some will supply a scan of the true original certificate.  Some will do a free search of a year range.  Some will send out your certificate within a day.  Some will contact you to discuss any anomaly in the checking points you have given.  And so on.

It would be very useful if a list could be compiled on Rootschat of local Register Offices with a description of the services one can expect from them.  Between us all we must have experience of ordering from a good number of ROs, and it would be a good resource for the reference library.

Now someone will tell me there already is one    but if there is I can't find it!

[rosie99]

Hi

Just one to start you off sloegin

I have just ordered marriage certs from Lancashire (through http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/ ) and they are photocopies of the originals 

I ordered them on Tuesday, they arrived this morning - at the same time I ordered a cert from the GRO, that is due for despatch next Monday  .

Rosie
 

[BridgetM]

I've ordered a number of certs from the Kendal Register Office, and the people there are really helpful, and the service really fast--but they send  transcribed certs.

[coombs]

I have ordered from Durham County Council Birth and Marriage Indexes and they are handwritten or typed copies of the originals. They are fast though.

[Sloe Gin]

Thank you!

Birmingham Register Office offer a brilliant service.  Statutory fee £7 (will be £9) plus SAE.

Scan of original on A4 sized paper
No fee for checks or searches (up to 5 year range)
Rapid turnaround, usually by return of post
Genealogy expert available to consult
They will sometimes ring you to discuss if one of your conditions doesn't quite match.
You do not even need to know the church in the case of marriages, as they are indexed.

Currently you can no longer order online, but they hope this facility will be restored before too long.

[Sloe Gin]

I'll just quote Stan Mapstone's reply to an earlier query I posted re Sunderland:

Sunderland Register Office have always provided me with copies of the original marriage certificate, with the original signatures.

This is what the Sunderland Registrars say;
"With all family history marriage applications we try to offer a photocopy of the original entry onto a certificate, the only time that this is not possible is if the entry has an error/correction in it which means we have to handwrite the certificate."

Their policy is to write out the birth certificates by hand as each birth entry is alongside several others and they will not issue the whole photocopied document with extraneous information. They say that the only *usual* circumstance that they will provide a photocopy of the original is if part of the entry is unclear and there is a risk that they would transcribe something incorrectly."
Stan

I didn't in the end apply for a cert as a distant relative already had a copy of the one I was after, but it is indeed a scan of the original.

[coombs]

I think some local register offices dont offer a certificate service though.

[LizzieW]

Thinking about it, a copy of an original marriage certificate is the most important, because it will show your ancestors handwriting - always supposing they could write, whereas birth and death certs only give

 Anyone know which registry office would cover Bethnal Green births of the 1850s/60s?  I did read a comment from a Rootschatter on another thread that the London ROs are not as helpful, so I may not get any joy from them anyway.

Lizzie

[DudleyWinchurch]

Wolverhampton are excellent and normally very quick (less than a week without SAE, sometimes just a couple of days if I remember to put in 1st class SAE).  

If you include contact details, they will call to check on any discrepancies, if necessary.

On one occasion, when the expected entry in their registers turned out to be incorrect, they had already called another office and got confirmation that the one I needed was there before calling me to confirm that it was OK to forward my request.

They advised me early on that it was better to send a letter with all known facts, rather than filling in a form so that is what I do.

They were also happy to confirm by phone that one I was looking for recently had the correct father.