Thanks Maths Girl & Gardener, I thought that might be the case. Looks like I've found something to while away the winter evenings now. And with a nice common surname to work with, I can see a few late nights coming up Thanks again.
As a newbie wanting to research family history, it seems there's a vast number of sites who'd like me to sign up to get information (ancestry.co.uk et al). Trying to read between the lines, it seems to me that these people will only confirm dates (of eg birth), but not actually provide copy of the c...