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Question & Answer

We are discussing Tracing family history
With Antoinette Buchanan, Stephanie Ryan and Jennifer Higgins

Question:
My grandmother was born in England in the 1880s. How can I find out when and where she was born and her parents’ names?

Answer:
Jennifer - The birth of your grandmother would most likely have been registered with the authorities. Civil registration commenced in England and Wales in mid 1837. The indexes to registration of birth, deaths and marriages are kept by the General Register Office in England. However, with the advent of the internet there are a number of ways you can consult these indexes online.

Free BDM is searchable transcription of the English and Welsh indexes. If you don’t know the exact quarter or year of the event, then this is a good index to use. This database is an ongoing work but is substantially completed to around 1910. You can check to see if the period of your interest is covered by using the very detailed graphs on the website. On this database, it is sometimes possible to cross reference the name of the spouse for a marriage registration entry.

Ancestry.co.uk at has birth, death and marriage index page images for 1837-1983 and searchable, digitized version of the indexes for 1984-2004. There is no fee for searching these images.

Information on the indexes is brief but the certificate will contain more information including parents’ names and place of birth. You may order a copy of the certificate on the General Register office website above. Other ordering options are also listed on that website. Some genealogical societies (eg Society of Australian Genealogists, Genealogical Society of Victoria, Heraldry and Genealogical Society of Canberra, South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society, West Australian Genealogical Society) also offer certificate ordering services and/or currency exchange services.

Microfiche copies of the indexes to 2003 are held by the National Library of Australia, some State Libraries and a number of major genealogical societies around Australia. Please see the National Library of Australia’s website for a list of State Library and genealogical societies contact information.

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