GUIDANCE - England and Wales births after 1837

[philipsearching]

The simplest pace to start is probably FreeBMD
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/
This site enables you to narrow your search by year range and county or registration district (not both!)
On FreeBMD mothers' maiden names are shown after 1912.

Make a note of the details - for example
SMITH Fred, Mar qtr 1890 Burnley vol 8e p200
SMITH John, mmn JONES Dec qtr 1920 Burnley vol 8e p300

To find a mother's maiden name before 1912 look on the General Register Office (GRO) website
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/login.asp
You will need to register the first time - this is free.
Select the Search the GRO Indexes option
Enter the details (name, gender, year registration district) you found on FreeBMD and hit the search button
The search results will give the person's mother's maiden name.  For examle, entering SMITH Fred, 1890 Burnley would give you
SMITH Fred, Jan-Mar 1890 Burnley vol 8e p200 mmn BROWN

There is more than one website where you can purchase copies of birth certificates, but prices vary.  The GRO website is the cheapest I have found. (£6 PDF, £9.25 hard copy at date of this post).  After the login page select the Order a Certificate/PDF and fill in the details.

NOTE - some church baptism register images are available to view free online, but (apart from giving the parents' first names) these generally have less detail than a birth certificate and there is no guarantee that a baptism occurred the same year as the birth.


Happy hunting!
Philip