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The easiest way to obtain a copy of a birth, marriage, or death certificate is
to request it by phone, postal mail, fax, or email from the
General Records
Office (GRO). They can usually provide a certificate for you when provided only
with the full names of the person whose certificate you wish to trace and the
approximate date of the event. This can be extremely useful when you do not know
the location in England or Wales, or don't know the specific year and quarter,
where the event took place. They offer a
graduated structure of fees based upon
how much information that you are able to provide. It will save you money to
know the GRO reference number, but it is not necessary.
When applying to the GRO, please send as much information as possible,
including full names of the person whose certificate you wish to trace, an exact
a date as possible, and the place where the event took place. Any other
information that you supply will also be of help. Be sure to send the
appropriate fee. If requesting certificates from abroad, payment should be made
by credit card or by an International Money Order made out to ONS expressed in
pounds Sterling with a UK clearing bank. You can print application forms
directly from the GRO Web site for
birth,
marriage and
death certificate requests.
You can request certificates from the General Register Office in Southport in
the following ways:
Mail
For events which took place in England or Wales:
General Register Office
PO Box 2
Southport
Merseyside PR8 2JD
For Overseas Events:
Overseas Section
General Register Office
Trafalgar Road
Southport
Merseyside PR8 2HH
Telephone
You can apply by telephone +44 (0)870 243 77 88 if you have a credit or
debit card. The GRO accepts Visa, MasterCard, Solo, Delta or Switch.
Fax
You can apply by faxing all of the necessary information including your
credit or debit card number to +44 (0)1704 550013.
Email
You can apply by sending an email with the required information to
certificate.services@ons.gov.uk or, for overseas events, to
overseas.GRO@ons.gov.uk.
Please keep in mind that it is not secure to send credit card information via
email. A good way to get around this difficulty is to initially provide them
with the credit card information over the phone, and ask that they keep it on
file. This way, you can email them with any future requests and ask them to bill
your credit card. This also gives you the benefit of being able to take
advantage of the exchange rate if you are requesting a certificate from abroad.
If you need a certificate quickly, the GRO does provide a priority service
for an extra fee. Be sure to mark your envelope/request as PRIORITY. The certificates will be sent to you the next working day
after the receipt of your application and payment.
Next page
>
How to
Obtain a Certificate from a Local Register Office
Civil
Registration FAQ
What
information do these records contain?
How
do I locate a birth/marriage/death certificate?
How do I order a copy of a
birth/marriage/death certificate?
My
ancestor was born/married/died after 1837. Why can't I find his/her
record?
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