GRO indexes on gro.gov.uk !

[AntonyMMM]

I have to say I don't like the notation for the quarters myself, but it is the standard throughout registration so Q1 is always referred to as "the March quarter" etc. - but I often have to pause to work out which that is when I hear it or see it written down as M.

[davidft]

I like that the GRO has done this. I was interested in this comment

Yes but you are missing the point of the new index, it has been compiled to allow the purchase of uncertified copies of register entries.
There will be a limited trial of this service (uncertified copies of register entries) from the 9th of this month for three weeks or 45000 copies whichever comes first.

does anyone know what the uncertified copies will cost and what they will include i.e. how will they be different from the certified copies.

On the question of different maiden names in a family of 15/16 siblings I have as a maiden name

Garrett 7 times
Gehard 2 times
Gerhard 1 time
Gannett 1 time
Jarrett 1 time
Cracknell 1 time

There are 3 siblings I have not found yet.

I know all the above are the right family and know the reasons for the variation in the maiden names, that is all except the Cracknell one which may turn out to be just badly written and hard to decipher.

If the uncertified copies are not expensive I will try and use it to find the Isabella Dodd mentioned in the footnote to my posts

[Lostris]

£sick squid has been mentioned - dunno exactly, but would think it will be a PDF with same info & layout as current paper version ....

[AntonyMMM]

for the initial trial the cost will be £6 - I believe it it will be a .pdf file showing an image of the (copy) register entry that GRO have - being uncertified for family history research isn't really an issue - it just means it won't be on official paper and might not be acceptable for any legal purposes ( inheritance claims, passport applications etc).

There is to be another trial for uncertified copies from records that haven't yet been digitised (at £8) and an express 3hr service trial which I believe will be £45 (aimed at the legal & heir/hunter type world I expect).

[cuffie81]

I hope I haven't come across as too negative, I do really appreciate the GRO making this data available to us. Just to be clear, all my comments as to what search options the GRO offer us, and may offer us, are purely gleaned from looking at the HTML and javascript on the page, so are speculative at best. I'm in no way associated with GRO other than as a user like everyone else here.

Regarding the mother's maiden name they do seem to be using a dash (ie no name) when the child was illegitimate. I'm comparing records with certificates I have. This seems slightly at odds with how it's done post-1911; some consistency would be good.

Regarding the quarter notation, like others, I keep doing a double take to convert it to Q1-Q4. I suspect it's the abbreviation to a single character that's the cause, as personally, I don't have the same issue when using FreeDMB and their 3 character abbreviations. I think I might change my script to 'fix' this.

As for my earlier comments on the phonetic name matching (metaphone), looking again at their HTML it appears they're not using exact matching on the metaphone code but using a level of fuzzy matching (ie 1 code character different). This might explain the performance issue and why the resulting matches are a bit looser than I/we expect. There's also a commented out option for even looser matches (ie 2 characters different), so it looks like they have may been experimenting with more options. An option for exact code matches would be nice.


Has anyone else wondered what this could mean for FreeDMB? As the GRO are building their own database with more detail than FreeBMD could (assuming they're never given access to the data the GRO have), could it affect the number of volunteers and donations FreeBMD can attract? I think it'd be a real shame if FreeBMD were 'relegated' to a secondary source through no fault of their own, considering all the work they've put in over the years.

[louisa maud]

From about 1993 I frequented St Catherine's  House and then Middleton Street before the ledgers for BMD's moved to Kew so I was used to the quarters , it really doesn't take to much thinking about to be honest

So far I am enjoying the use  of this new system, Girl Guide sorted  one out for me initially which I had missed for some 20 years, so that got me moving to continue but most I had already, a good system, a good way to spend a cold afternoon

Louisa Maud

[Sloe Gin]

On the question of different maiden names in a family of 15/16 siblings I have as a maiden name

Garrett 7 times
Gehard 2 times
Gerhard 1 time
Gannett 1 time
Jarrett 1 time
Cracknell 1 time

There are 3 siblings I have not found yet.

I know all the above are the right family and know the reasons for the variation in the maiden names, that is all except the Cracknell one which may turn out to be just badly written and hard to decipher.

I'm sure that's it.  We must keep in mind that the GRO records are transcriptions of the originals held by the local register office, so there is twice as much scope for mistranscription.  We are two steps from the original bad handwriting 

[BumbleB]

I may be wrong, but I don't think this will make any difference to FreeBMD, in fact it may even make it more useful than ever.   In order to search the GRO you need to know the Registration District and a possible year.  It's much easier to search on FreeBMD to cover a wide range of Districts - by county for instance - and a wider range of years.

[rosie99]

I may be wrong, but I don't think this will make any difference to FreeBMD, in fact it may even make it more useful than ever.   In order to search the GRO you need to know the Registration District and a possible year.  It's much easier to search on FreeBMD to cover a wide range of Districts - by county for instance - and a wider range of years.

 
I agree with BumbleB

Freebmd is also useful for its postems, we just need to keep entering the details from our certificates there