Gro

[DiD]

Polease can somebody explain. I ordered a copy of my great-grandparents marriage certificate on line and gave place, date, page etc.. But they then sent me an automated e-mail to say they won't issue the certificate as the bride's father's forename is incorrect!!!!
Why did they do this?
Confused of Gosport!!:(

[Glen in Tinsel Knickers]

You can order a certificate with minimal information for £7
ie name, year, quarter, district, volume and page number.


If you supply any additional information or request a reference check then any additional details you supply (date, place, name of a parent etc) must appear on the certificate EXACTLY as you have supplied. If anything is different then the GRO will not issue the cert and retain part of the fee.

If for example you say the father is called "George" and the entry in the register is "Geo", the GRO will usually not send the certificate as the details do not match exactly. Even something as trivial as the difference between Ann and Anne can result in a cert not being issued.

It's usually better to apply with just the minimal information if you are pretty sure it is the correct certificate, that way the abbreviated names or a mistranscribed date (15 instead of 25, or 11 instead of 17 for example) can be avoided.

[Lin Fisher]

Sometimes less is better.

If you have the ref and the bride and grooms name it is better to only use that.

Perhaps the father had 2 fornames and they were the wrong way round.

My parents marriage cert has her father by the wrong name and she is still alive but decided not to mention it as it would upset them!!

[DiD]

Gro

Many thanks for advice, have decided to have another attempt to purchase the certificate with just the minimum amount of information!
Di

[Anne in Carlisle]

You don't even need to put both the bride and groom. Just one of them will do, together with the GRO reference. (year, quarter, volume, page, district)

Anne

[LorraineJ]

Why do the GRO get so picky with names and the need for the requester to get an exact match? The person paying is asking for a particular certificate and the reference, surely the responsibility lies with them to get as much as they can right and I really don't understand why its better to put in really basic info just in case.

Also for death certificate copies, why do you have to know the exact age they were when they died?

[Sue from Southend]

I've never put their age on Death Cert applications! Most of them got their own age wrong in every census so how likely is an informant to be right!!

Name and GRO reference is all you need if you're confident and don't need a cross reference. But even then I wouldn't use age....

[Anne in Carlisle]

Yep - I only ever use Name and GRO reference for any birth marriage or death. In fact it is exactly as I found it in the index. I am lucky that none of my surnames are particularly common so I've not got many wrong certificates. I did once use a check - they didn't send the certificate - I was so eaten up with curiosity that I sent for again anyway, therefore spending even more money! (I was wrong :o)

Anne

[KiteRunner]

Lorraine, if you order using the info from the index, which gives you age at death if it's required, you need only pay £7 for a cert and the GRO do not require any extra info to issue the cert except for more recent ones where they are trying to prevent identity fraud. But if you have asked them to search for a cert and you have not given them the ref numbers then they need enough info to make sure they send you the right cert. Then some people want to make sure they don't spend £7 on a cert which turns out to be wrong so they will ask the GRO to check father's name or whatever.

[LorraineJ]

Lorraine, if you order using the info from the index, which gives you age at death if it's required, you need only pay £7 for a cert and the GRO do not require any extra info to issue the cert except for more recent ones where they are trying to prevent identity fraud. But if you have asked them to search for a cert and you have not given them the ref numbers then they need enough info to make sure they send you the right cert. Then some people want to make sure they don't spend £7 on a cert which turns out to be wrong so they will ask the GRO to check father's name or whatever.

Oh I see, thank you.

[Glen in Tinsel Knickers]

Why do the GRO get so picky with names and the need for the requester to get an exact match?

Probably because if you asked for a cert containing names X,Y and Z and they sent one with X,Y and A there would be complaints. There can also be differences in the details between the GRO index and the GRO/local registers too.


An example below shows the GRO index entry for a marriage in my tree (2nd marriage for both parties)

Marriages Jun 1903
------------------
Chambers Thorborn Lincoln 7a 1227
Palmer John Frederick Lincoln 7a 1227

The GRO cert shows Thorbon Chambers married John Frederick Palmer (note forename of bride is spelled differently).
The locally issued cert has the bride named as Martha Thorbon Chambers, (her forenames at birth were Martha Thorbon).

[Guy]

They don't need any other info in any case just a name and ref. number.
It illegal for them to refuse to issue any certificate identified by its reference.
Cheers
Guy

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

What about suppressed annulled marriage certs?

[DiD]

A little further down the line I am ready to send for more certificates. My great-grandfather was born in 1836, is this too early for a birth certificate? And, if I order a birth certificate for a female member of the family, can I stipulate that I only want it if her Father's name is correct? Have three for other families so far!!!
Di

[Olde Crone Holden]

DiD

Civil registration did not start until July 1837, so I'm afraid the only record of the marriage will be in the church registers.

Yes, you can "qualify" a request for a cert by saying the father's name MUST BE (whatever). However, you do run the risk here, as above, of not getting it because she called her father Geo and not George!

I usually get round this problem by ordering from the local RO, who are far more flexible about these things. I would say:

"Father's name must be George, or soundalike" which would cover Geo etc.

It is illegal for the GRO to issue a certificate which does not correspond EXACTLY with the information you have supplied. If you supply only the reference number, you will get the cert.

OC