Reader Response -- UK Death Certificates

Somehow I thought you guys might come through on this one and boy, did you ever. In our last episode reader DF asked, "An associate of mine has a mother who is trying to find the death certificate of her natural father (she was adopted), so that she will know how he died. All she knows is his name... that he was born around 1900, and died at a young age around 1944. Any ideas where I could look for a death certificate for this British citizen...?" I was FLOODED with responses.

Reader CB responded succinctly: " http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/topics/bmd.htm provides a brief overview of how to find a death certificate in the UK." (Thanks to the approximately six zillion other people who recommended this site.)

Reader SJR noted, "All deaths are recorded and have been since 1837 in Britain and can be found in the indices of Births, Deaths, and Marriages at the Family Records Centre (This is Civil Registration) The address and an explanation of what is available is here: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/civreg/ There are some online, but they only go up to 1902 and are not fully indexed yet. You can find them here: http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ ."

A mother-daughter team with the last name of W sent me the following great advice: "Let us assume she knows his proper name and that it is not something like John Smith.

1. check the 1901 census on line. If he was born before it was taken (usually around March or April) then he should be listed, and as such a young child, one would assume he would be listed with his parents. If you find him, you will probably have the area he was born in and his family and a confirmation of his age.

2. Search the records for his birth. Here in Melbourne Australia I would go to the state Library Victoria or either of the two genealogy research libraries nearby. Records held are an index only, alphabetically arranged by surname and then first name and quarter by quarter - so there are 4 quarters per year. I have seen the records on both fiche and microfilm. Record the numbers associated with the relevant records and request the cert from the relevant authority - I think it has recently changed it's name to something like family Record Centre and is in London. It is a government department, anyway.

3. Search the IGI etc - be aware not all records are on it but you may be lucky. It too is available at various genie libraries in various formats and ages, but also on line - try putting "familysearch" in google. Again note numbers and apply for the cert - you can also hire the relevant film at an LDS centre. (Larger Mormon church.)

4. Search the Free BMD site. Again, easily found by using freebmd in google. Again not all records are there (but it is increasing every day) and also around 1900 is towards the end of the period they are mostly concentrating on. Again it is an index. Apply for the relevant certs.

5. The main record centre in London will do these searches for you at a cost. The certs are going to cost you around £13 anyway and they only search about 5 years at a time so get your money ready. Because of cost, I would use this option last but you will probably be forced into it!

If you can establish his birth date you should have a better chance of finding his death cert - because you will know his age.

6. Search again for the death record. The IGI will almost certainly not help, it does not concentrate on death / burial records. And I doubt the free BMD will, either, round 1944. Back to the family record centre and more money.

Things which may help you are - do you have an idea of the location? It would be a big help if he was born in a little place, you were born there, and he never moved - it'd pin him down pretty well if a person of the roughly correct age and matching name died in the same place! And if his name was really unusual so there were only a couple by his name in England at a time, so much the better for your search! Local record offices hold the registation records for BMDs too, maybe with a little more information, maybe a little cheaper, but the reg, numbers mentioned above do not apply to them. It is a matter of search through the records and proably you will have to persuade and pay them to do it for you. I would probably, in your situation, buy both the family record one and the local record office one. Sometimes they are copied by hand, other times photocopied... You could get additional snippets on one and not the other..."

Reader LM looks at Scotland: "If the parent was Scottish, or lived in Scotland, then the information should be available by contacting the General Register Office for Scotland: http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/ . They also run an online searchable database: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk , although you have to pay six UK pounds to access it. I'll admit, I've never used it so I don't know how good it is."

Reader RO waves a glass at the Free Pint bar: "You've probably had this pointed out to you a dozen times, but this query was also posted on the Free Pint bar ( http://www.freepint.com/bar/read.php?f=1&i=21561&t=21561 ). A lot of useful sites were listed in that thread."

Reader HHC reads the FAQ: "Where can I obtain British birth, marriage or death certificates? http://www.britainusa.com/faq/xq/asp/SID.367/qx/showfaq.htm ."

Finally, reader DD suggests, "Might check out this source: Oatis.com http://www.oatis.com/ website of John Oatis, a Reuters journalist (and Columbia U. journalism prof) working in London. Has good tips on public records searching and business sites for journalists."

Thanks to everyone who sent in their responses!

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