General Chat

Birth certificates dont seem to be available far beyond 1800s Is this true and if so how do you track people before that I can find a number of definite relatives in census so know rough birth years but when i ask for birth info it says to request a later date .I dont know how else to trace further back if i cant get a birth cerificate . Any tips please

it was law at 1837 but not all births were registered at that time, maybe christening/baptism records could help you

xxxxx

Dear Helen

Hello

BMD certificates were first issued in 1837.

The records that you can access depends on the their availablity on certain sites.

Sometimes, you need to obtain CD-ROMS for an area to find info.

A******y has BMD records for example for Wiltshire and also the London Metropolitan Boroughs.

What areas are you looking at?

Also, the archive and history service for an area is an invaluable source of info and you can contact them for help.

Best wishes

Helen, as mentioned, official registration began in 1837. Prior to that there are the church (parish) records of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, note the difference.
Baptism records are just that, you may be lucky and find that the incumbent has helpfully recorded the date of birth, but that is not the norm.
Burial records give the date of burial, not the date of death.

The county records office for the relevant parish will usually hold the parish records (although not all have been deposited) and, along with them, many other sources of useful information. Unfortunately most records are only available at the records office but can a real goldmine of information. More and more records are slowly being made available online.