General Chat

Looking for birth certicates for my g grandfather Thomas John Oliver born May 3 1868 in Croydon (volume 2a and page 220) and my grandmother Mary Woods born in Woolwich on April 25 1895 (volume 1d and page 1274). GRO says that they don't have these records. What do I do now?

Do they mean that they don't have a certificate that matches the vol/page numbers? Or that they don't hold records for Croydon and Woolwich? Sounds strange to me, have you double checked the vol/page numbers?

I've checked Thomas birth registration and you seem to have the correct volume and page.
Did you specify parents or actual birthday perhaps?
Unless the requested information exactly matches the recorded information, GRO won't send.
eg. if you specified that father was Harry and records show Henry, that wouldn't be a match, ....although it could quite likely be the correct person.
I only specify the child's name and birth district, the year,quarter, volume and page.

Gwyn

I've just checked Thomas's record and it matches what you have.

Are you giving the actual birth date or just the quarter?

I thought it may be possible that the certificate gives a different date.

I checked Thomas John Oliver and you definitely have the correct reference. What did GRO exactly say?

Give the least amount of information that you need to give, as Gwyn says don't give parents names or actual birth date.

For Mary they said that they don't have a person in the reference that I quoted and on Thomas, they sent me the next one down on the list (1d 226) as they didn't have that person either

I have exactly the same problem with the GRO over a marriage certificate. It happens to be a long standing brick wall which will hopefully topple with this cert.

The kind people on tips board confirmed my ref number was correct, and I appealed to the GRO. Here is their reply:

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Dear Mrs Pearse

Marriage certificate : Horace Rogers & Ethel Johnson J 1919 11a 483 Haverfordwest

We have been unable to issue a certificate because the reference you found in the indexes is incorrect. This is due to an error which was made when the indexes were compiled.

In the circumstances a full refund has been credited to your account by World Pay.

If you have any questions concerning this order or would like further information, please contact us by e-mail [email protected]

**********************

I'm not quite sure what to do next. So near and yet so far!

Does anybody know where a person can go and look at records as St Catherines House seems to be for online only and the Family Records Office has been closed?

Lynn,

You may get a copy from Croydon Register Office,if you explain that GRO wont issue it because the indexes are wronlgy transcribed,,but most now make a charge of £10,

,,or ring GRO and explain that you followed the procedure and know its the right birth,,and its not your fault its been wrongly indexed..they are good and do listen to complaints.

Does the local registry office in Croydon and Woolwich have e-mails or should I call them??? I'm not in the UK.

If you google Woolwich Records Office it come up under Greenwich...
& heres their phone munber

I would give them a call........020 8854 2452

You can also email the Council's Contact Centre at [email protected].

somersetGirl - Many thanks will try the Croydon office. Does anyone have the Woolwich one?

Thanks for the email addresses, I will give it a try.