How do I find birth & death certificates for children if I don't know the names?

[cottonflower]

My great grandmother was one of fifteen children. All died in childhood except two.
So far I've only found a 1901 census return, listing just my great grandmother, her parents and an address.
It might not be possible, but I was wondering if it could be possible for me to go to the local register office to find all births and deaths of children registered by the parents? I don't know any of the children's names.
 I want to know the causes of death.
Or is there another way to find out?
Thanks
Sarah

[crisane]

You could us the GRO index which now allows you to search using the mother's maiden name. You have to sign up but it is free to search. Hopefully the parent's surnames aren't Smith and Jones. When you have found possible births you can then match them up with any deaths - on the same site.

[groom]

I agree with crisane, that would be the first thing I'd do - use the GRO, quicker and easier than going to a register office and searching through books.

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp


If you want to give your great great grandparents' names and where they were in the 1901, I'm sure people will help with your search.

[Lisajb]

If you want to know the cause of death you will have to buy the certificates - this information is not shown on the GRO indexes. You can order through the GRO, it's £6 for a pdf copy which can be emailed to you

[Girl Guide]

I had that problem although admittedly I was only looking for one.  However I had the delightful combination of White/Smith to contend with.

Luckily I knew that they had lived in one place all their lives so was able to concentrate on the one area.

I narrowed the possibilities down to three and fortunately for me I plumped for the right one first time.

Have you found your great-grandmother's birth registration using the GRO search index?  If you have then you will have her mother's maiden name which you can use to search for possible siblings for your great-grandmother.

As Groom has said, if you would like to provide us with names, I've no doubt whatsoever that you will receive lots of help to find the 13 siblings.

[chempat]

What country were they born in?

[Milliepede]

If you give us the names of the two that survived cottonflower we will get to work and see who else we can find for you

[iolaus]

Using the gro index now that they have the mothers maiden name is fantastic - and in most cases will provide you with their names - you do have to be careful though, I couldn't narrow down without buying in one case because even though they were unusualish combinations I had two brothers marrying two sisters in the same town

I did discover an extra 7 children for my great-grandparents this way though - they lost 8 children under the age of 1 (one I was already aware of) - as others have said the only way to know cause of death is by the certificate, and that will work out expensive

[jennifer c]

If you can find them on the 1911 census it should give how many children born alive and how many have died.

Jennifer