I have commented a few times that all local district registration office records were moved to the central GRO about 15+ years ago.
A recent example of where this came up is this thread
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=877011.0However, I wonder if this is actually true?
Background:
In the 1990s and early 2000s - through at least 2004 - my parents and I would spend a few days a year in the registration office in Wexford, which held the original local district registration BMD registers for all of the county - for four Superintendent Registration districts; Wexford, New Ross, Enniscorthy, and Gorey. We paid a small fee to spend the day examining the original registers, one book at a time, and making extracts.
This had at least 3 advantages:
- The books were all locally indexed, so one could look at specific surnames in small locatities - individual registration districts.
- These were the original registers, so no question of copying errors, as sometimes arises with the GRO versions, which are copies.
- The original registers contain the actual signatures (or marks) of the parties or informants concerned.
However, at some point after 2004 I was informed that this facility to inspect the original registers was no longer available, as "all" the registers were being moved to the central GRO for "safety".
I interpreted "all" to mean a national policy to move the original local registers. However, I now wonder if I misinterpreted what was meant.
What I did not know at the time, but became evident, was that the building housing the registration office in Grogan's Road, which also contained the Wexford public health clinics, was due to be replaced. The former building was demolished, and replaced by a completely new, larger, facility.
Knowing that, it is now easy to understand, in retrospect, that of course the registration office records had to be moved, for safekeeping.
So,
- Was this peculiar to Wexford, or were the original records elsewhere also moved to the GRO?
- I must inquire in Wexford as to whether the original records were ever returned, or if they are still at the GRO
