Birth Certificates online £20 - £25 each? Expensive or what!

[Roger]

Hi

I am trying to establish my Grandfathers parents but find that if I want a birth certificate for him I am expected to pay £20 - £25 for an online request. Is this a fact? Does anyone know of a cheaper way to obtain birth certificates in the UK of a person born around 1884? After all I'm not entirely 100% sure I have the right person until I see it!

Here's hoping.

[Alec]

Hi Roger

You can order online from the GRO http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certi ... ndex.asp#0 which should be cheaper and if you stipulate information e.g. date of birth, father's occupation, mother's maiden name etc and its not the right certificate they wont send it and just charge a small admin fee.

However I can't help thinking you going about this the wrong way round and there's more you can do before sending for it.

[admin]

A copy certificate from the GRO only costs £7 if you have the index number. If you don't have the reference number, you can get it for a fiver or so through sites like findmypast.com and genesreunited.co.uk (assuming it's not early enough to appear on freebmd.org.uk)

Dominic

[Roger]

However I can't help thinking you going about this the wrong way round and there's more you can do before sending for it.

Agreed ... but if there is no one around anymore to ask about him what do you do? I know very little about my Grandfather and want to establish who HIS parents were and I was hoping to get this from his birth certificate.

[admin]

Can you not find him in the 1891 or 1901 censuses?

[Roger]

Can you not find him in the 1891 or 1901 censuses?

All I have is a reference in the births registry for mid 1880 which I think is him but not sure. Can you give me a link for the censuses please?
Thanks

[admin]

Most census sites charge for access. I'd assumed you'd gone down this route already, as it tends to be the most effective means of tracing people and one of the first things most researchers do.

You can access 1841-1901 censuses at http://genesreunited.co.uk/ on a "pay per view" basis, or http://www.ancestry.co.uk with a subscription. You can also access some of these free at http://www.freecen.org.uk/ but unless you happen to be searching in one of the areas where there's 100% coverage, you're likely to need a paid subscription. The 1881 census is also available free at http://www.familysearch.org

That said, a subscription will allow you to gain far more information and may well take you back a couple of generations for the same cost as a single birth certificate.

Dominic

[Roger]

Thanks very much Dominic.