Records search

[scottiegirl44]

Hi everyone.

I am wondering if there is an England version of Scotlands People??  I have Ancestry and most of the searching for the English side of my family leads me to the various BMD indexes.  Is there anything like with Scotlands People that you can pay-per=view or get a subscription and actually see the record with all the info on it like who the parents were on the birth record and the actual DOB?? Or am I going to have to use the indexes to order copies from the archives?? Am I missing something or does everyone just piece everything together just using the indexes??

Thanks,

Kim

[halhawk]

Hi

The general answer is no, to be certain you have to buy the certificates from the GRO or the county concerned, after checking the indexes.  However if you are lucky you may find some of the information elsewhere.

Recent deaths on the GRO index give a date of birth, although the accuracy of that can be questionable, as it depends on the knowledge of the person who registered the death.

Some counties are putting their BMD indexes online, and those will usually give the maiden surname of the mother, although in my experience only the year of birth.

If you know the likely parish of birth etc, then the parish records are a good source, although dates will be baptism and burial (some do give a few birth/death dates as well, more likely for birth).  Again this depends on luck as to whether the ones you want are online.  However you can try the OPC (online parish clerk) sites if available - there's a thread somewhere on RC about that.  Or best of all try posting a thread on the relevant county board (or General) and ask for a lookup

I think most people use a combination of many of these, with the certificates being the final confirmation. 

Cheers
halhawk