Thursday, 28 August 2008
The General Register Office (GRO) was established on 1 July 1837 to register births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales and provide statistical information on them . The GRO established a network of local register offices, working through the newly-created poor law unions. There was no legal penalty for non-registration until 1878, and so there are deficiencies in the registers before that date.
The GRO website can be accessed by clicking on this link http://www.gro.gov.uk
England and Wales
Copies of the indexes to births, marriages and deaths from 1837 are held at the Family Record Centre, (FRC) London. Certificates of entries in the registers can be purchased through the Centre. See the entry for the FRC on this site for the address and telephone number. Copies can also be purchased directly from the General Register Office, Smedley Hydro, Birkdale, Southport, Merseyside, PR8 2HH.
Doncaster Area
The Doncaster Register office is located at Elmfield Park, Doncaster, DN1 2EB, telephone 01302 364922. E-mail address is registrars@doncaster.gov.uk. Opening hours are Monday to Friday 8.45 to 16.00. Its registers date from 1837 to the present. Researchers may consult the indexes (not the original registers), but should make an appointment to do this. The cost is (in 2004) £18 for a search of up to 6 hours. A certificate from the registers can be supplied at a current (2007) cost of £7.00.
Indexes to the civil register of births, marriages and deaths are available at the Doncaster and District FHS Palgrave Research Room (charge to non-members), Sheffield Archives, Lincolnshire Archives, Hull Central Library and Leeds Central Library.
