GRO digital images £2.50

[BarbW]

I don't see what else you'd get from a full certificate unless I'm missing something.

Apart from the missing headings, the only difference is that digital images don't (usually) show any marginal notes that may be on the entry - pdf and paper copies do. Otherwise they are identical.

I don't recall ever seeing marginal notes on any of my collection of certificates, I've only seen them in baptism registers for instance when a child is illegitimate.  Interesting, what kinds of notes would they be?

I must admit the full certificate looks much better, however the £2.50 version suits my current budget.

[AntonyMMM]

Marginal notes can be related to adoption, corrections or references to re-registrations.

[coombs]

I have so stocked up on birth certs for ancestors siblings now, and death certs for those who died in infancy, as well as adulthood. The new feature is great. No longer having to wait up to 3 weeks like before especially when WDYTYA was on and it made demand for BMD cert orders from GRO go through the roof.

That's what I've been doing, buying the death certificates for those who died young.  Of course we had the burial registers for dates in some cases but it's interesting to see little ones who died of childhood diseases which have now almost been eradicated in this country at least and young adults  dying of illnesses that would probably be cured these days.

I have some who died quickly, of cholera "12 hours" or so, or fever 2 days etc. Adults and children as well. Also as I am sure many others will have experienced, many of my ancestors died of "phthisis" which is pulmonary TB. And sometimes after a long battle such as my ancestor Charlotte Stock who died in 1849 aged 42 of "phthisis, 2 years".

[Mildred298]

Sorry, yes the information is the same on the digital image. But, as someone mentioned there may be "unofficial notes" on a hard copy. I also prefer the original official hard copies for my direct line ancestors than what I can print from a digital or pdf image.
Always good to hear others' views.
Mildred

[Romilly]

I don't see what else you'd get from a full certificate unless I'm missing something.

There are notes on the Birth Certificate of my late Uncle Ernest Rencella Wilson, born Swansea 8/8/1897. His name and gender were altered as a Clerical Error, and so Alice Rencella Wilson, Girl, - was reassigned as Ernest Rencella Wilson, Boy.
Ernest spent many years in the Merchant Navy, and I’ve often wondered if he ever had to show his Birth Certificate!

Romilly.

[MollyC]

Some time ago I had collected the birth of a Charles in 1891 from FreeBMD.  I knew this person, he died in 1980.

Later I was doing a systematic check of his family in the GRO index using the mmn.  Under females it retrieved a Charlotte.  At first I thought there must have been a baby who died that I never knew about, then realised the reference was the same as Charles, and he was missing from the GRO.  So I sent an error report, included his exact date of birth from the FreeBMD death entry and suggested they needed to change the sex, for which there is no box on the form to report that error.  It was corrected.

added:  What would I have received if I had ordered Charlotte?

[Mildred298]

As I say, I prefer the hard copy for direct line family but digital for information or if I'm not sure as it's because of price. Also, I've found the hard copy sometimes is clearer to read, dependant upon the penmanship of the registrar.
Someone also mentioned the digital being automated. However, I ordered one yesterday and it still hasn't come through. Maybe the system is turned off weekends and bank holidays and it'll arrive on Tuesday.
Mildred

[Tickettyboo]

Someone also mentioned the digital being automated. However, I ordered one yesterday and it still hasn't come through. Maybe the system is turned off weekends and bank holidays and it'll arrive on Tuesday.
Mildred

When you order and pay, you should get two emails
1 from World Pay which confirms your payment and 1 from the GRO which confirms the name and event you ordered and quotes the order number

If you have had both of those then sign into your account on GRO click on View Recent orders and put the relevant order no in the boxes.
In the result in bold blue writing (its a link) it will say either E/W Birth , or E/W Death, Digital image. Click on that link and you'll see the image and be able to download it to your pc

NB if you didn't get either of those emails and checking your Recent Orders by date doesn't bring up the one you are talking about then your order, for some reason,  did not go through. I'd try again :-)

Boo

[Mildred298]

I got the Worldpay email but not the normal GRO.Gov email with the link to the certificate. I thought it might be because of the bank holiday.
Mildred