General Chat

Colin Jackson appeared on the news this morning with the head of Ancestry who was broaddcasting the fact that the births reg. would now be on line I am confused - we have the index on line so although I listened intently I must have missed the point.

Anyone else know what is going on?

Hi I saw it as well, I thought they said that the actual certificates were going to be on line (similiar I presume to ScotlandsPeople) and they were talking about identity theft as well.
Not just me having a dream while awake!!
Mind you I can't find anything on Ancestry or on the BBC website about it.
Teresa

Maybe we'd all have to watch the lunch-time news in the hope that there's a similar feature.

Gwyn

from what I have seen on ancestry tonight they have completely transcribed the birth indexs not that I had much luck using it

Hopefully it will be the actual certificates.

When the Family Records Office was closed we were promised that all the information there would eventually be put on line and we would be able to download birth, marriage and death certificates for a nominal fee.

The index books etc., were transferred to the National Archives at Kew with a further promise they would be available to search there.

I won't say they deliberately lied but let's say they were economical with the truth. The contract was given out to Siemens, I think, who set up facilities in India for the transcriptions to be done. This turned out to be a dismal failure and Siemens withdrew from the contract.

So here we are with no access to the Index Books. They have been all neatly stored away from public eyes. We are left with
access to the bmd's by fische at Kew and I believe that Westminster Archives also have them on fische as I expect a few local libraries do as well.

I think it is an absolute disgrace the way family historians have been treated.

Thank goodness for Ancestry says I :)

Jean.
.

I know they have been putting the father's name on some of the birth indexes. also on some marriages, as one of my ancestors was married in 1888, and it has her husband's father and her father's name on it.

Mo

Interesting. I shall await further developments with interest :-)


The DOVE project was disbanded by the government:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/16/genealogy.records

http://www.nwe.siemens.com/denmark/internet/dk/produkter/it/news/
Pages/business_services_signs_contract_to_digitize_
250_million_records_for_office_for_national_statistics.aspx

Glad I'm not the only one confused!!!!!!!
I too saw this,and was given the impression, that birth certs would be available on line.
The newscasters mentioned data protection,saying that anyone could view this,also mentioned what was available to see,
e.g.
address,name of father,occupation.etc.
At no time was any cost mentioned,and gave the impression,that all one had to do was enter a name and hey presto.
The man from Ancestry said dates were available from 1837.

The interview was not at all clear,wish I could have asked him some questions during that interview.
I'm sure we would have had some straight answers,
or would we??

What channel was this please?
They might feature a similar item in another report.


Gwyn

BBC1 around about 8.00 a.m. which was why I was struggling to be alert with my cuppa and tv!

I listened intently to the report and honestly believed that all birth records would be available to view on line through ancestry.com revealing names of parents and the addresses. It mentioned data protection and I thought wow. I have just ordered umpteen birth certs from the records office at £7.00 a time and thought what a waste of money.
Lets keep our fingers crossed. Wouldn't it be great!!

I would be very surprised if there were full details especially considering the government's disbanded DOVE project.

Rita
If that was the case, it would be really helpful, especially for the time between 1901 and 1911 when mother's maiden name was added to the index.
Invaluable help in fact for my JONES, DAVIES, JENKINS etc all living in a close area of Wales.

Gwyn

Hi all.
I also saw this interview and couldn't understand what was going on, I do hope you are all right in your assumptions and we get a lot more info before we decide to buy.
Gill

My OH heard the news item and was trying to tell me about it
He said it concerned birth certificates
No wonder I didnt understand him.It sounds as if the interview was most unclear

I just checked Ancestry and so fa can't find a dickie-bird about it. I then ggogled Colin Jackson and BBC news and no luck there either.

Just off to check out ITV.

I saw this interview this morning and I am so glad it isn't just me that was confused with what they were saying.

So I thought I would take down the guys name from Ancestry.co.uk.
His name is Olivier Van Claster and he is the Managing Director of Ancestry.co.uk

We should all bombard him with emails to ask for all the details that he was trying to tell us aboutthis morning about BMD'S being online now.

Hope someone does email and gets an answer.

I have been all round BBC news and Ancestry, I can't find anything about it.
Gill

I have just e-mailed Ancestry to clarify what Olivier Van Claster said in the interview.

Surprise Surprise 'We are presently experiencing a high volume of emails'

Will update when / if I get a response

This is what it says on the press release section of Ancestry dated 9th June 2009 (this is the link: http://www.ancestry.co.uk/about/default.aspx?section=pr-2009-6-9)

Interestingly virtually the same press release was released in Feb of this year (when the birth index was fully transcribed). Presumably the same info being released to press today as they didn't get enough publicity the first time around! (Oops - did that sound a bit cynical!).

It definitely seems to suggest that only the indexes are available on line, i.e. post 1911 you will be able to see mother's maiden name, but it certainly doesn't seem to suggest what was apparently suggested on the BBC i.e. that occupation etc are also available. Looks like we will still need to order certs for that.

Helen

Prince William, the Kray Twins and Kate Winslet - 134m UK Birth Indexes Now Fully Searchable Online - World First

More than 134 million names of everyone born in England and Wales, since civil registration in 1837, are now available fully name searchable online for the first time on the UK’s leading family and social history website, Ancestry.co.uk.

In partnership with FreeBMD , Ancestry.co.uk has completed indexing by name, registration date and district the General Records Office (GRO) Birth Indexes for England and Wales dating from 1837 to 2005.

Although all GRO indexes (for records of births, marriages and deaths) have been available online for some time, this is the first time that the birth indexes have been made fully name searchable.

Considered ‘core’ records by family history researchers, this major addition to Ancestry.co.uk’s historical record collection will be of great significance both in the UK and internationally.

Modern day celebrity names in the indexes include Prince William, Russell Brand and Victoria Adams (Beckham). Other famous historical figures include John Lennon, JRR Tolkien, and Emeline Pankhurst.

Because each name has now been individually indexed, for the first time the complete record indexes can reveal name trends over the last 170 years, which prove that Victorian parents also named their children after celebrities of the day. Examples include:

Ellen entered the list of most popular names in the 1870s at the same time as the beautiful and glamorous Shakespearean actress Ellen Terry (1847-1928) reached the height of her fame

Joseph is a relatively uncommon name that entered the ‘top ten’ between 1907 and 1915 as the people’s politician and statesman Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) peaked in popularity

Annie was the most popular girl’s name between 1887 and 1896, influenced by the World famous Annie Oakley (1860-1926), an American sharpshooter and star of the touring show Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, who performed in person for Queen Victoria
Researching historical birth indexes also tells us that ‘unusual’ modern day celebrity baby names are not as original as we may think.

The first names Brooklyn, Romeo, Apple and Princess actually all made their debut long before they became famous in the 21st century, first appearing in the birth indexes from the 19th century.

Ancestry.co.uk is also working with FreeBMD to fully index the GRO’s Marriage and Death indexes. When complete , the England and Wales Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes from 1837-2005 will contain more than 250 million fully searchable names – only on Ancestry.co.uk.

Ancestry.co.uk Managing Director, Olivier Van Calster comments: “This is a real breakthrough for anyone researching ancestors born in England and Wales after 1837 as birth indexes are considered core records essential for anyone exploring their UK family history.

“To be able to search the entire England and Wales Birth Indexes armed with no more than a name could yield in minutes or less what once might have taken days to achieve.”