This is a brief guide to help you with your research. Records of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales are kept in various places, but not usually at The National Archives. This guide will help you to find out where else you can look.
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What do I need to know before I start?
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Try to find out:
- the person's name (and name of their parents, spouse or next of kin, where applicable)
- the approximate date of the birth, marriage or death
- the districtparishes grouped together for administrative purposes where the event is likely to have taken place
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What records can I see online?
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Birth, marriage and death certificates (1837 to present)
There are no birth, marriage or death certificates available to view online.
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Indexes to birth, marriage and death registrations (1837 to present)
Search birth, marriage and death indexes on freebmd.org.uk. Some commercial websites (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) also have the indexes - for a full list, see the General Register Office page on direct.gov.uk (you will need to scroll halfway down the page to see the list).
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Non-conformist registers (primarily before 1837)
Search BMDregisters (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) for non-conformistnon-conformist records - records kept by various religious denominations independently of the parish registers kept by the Church of England and the Catholic church and other non-parochialnot related to a Church of England parish parish records of births and baptisms, and deaths and burials up to 1865, as well as records of clandestine (irregular) marriages up to 1754 and Quaker marriages up to 1837 (RG 4 - RG 8).
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What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
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The National Archives does not hold birth, marriage or death certificates or any parish baptism, marriage or burial records.
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What records can I find in other archives and organisations?
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Birth, marriage and death certificates (1837 to present)
Order birth, marriage or death certificates either from the General Register Office (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.), or from the relevant local register office (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.).
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Indexes to birth, marriage and death registrations (1837 to present)
Use the Directgov website to find out which libraries, archives and record offices keep birth, marriage and death indexes on microfiche.
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Parish registers (before 1837)
Find the parish registera register of baptisms, marriages, and burials kept by a local parish church in a local archive to locate baptism, marriage and burial records before 1837. Look up the parish in The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers, 3rd edition, edited by Cecil R. Humphery-Smith (Phillimore, 2003).
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What other resources will help me find information?
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Websites
Search for a baptism or marriage in the International Genealogical Indexa database of transcriptions from parish registers, compiled by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on the FamilySearch website - this primarily covers baptisms and marriages before 1837. Geographical coverage is patchy but the index provides a useful pointer to relevant parish registers.
Search the National Burial Index for a death (1538-2005) on findmypast (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.).
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Births, marriages and deaths of British nationals at sea or abroad
Census
Divorce