GRO BMD indexes and cheaper PDF and digital certificate options

At the time of update only the births for 1837-1934 & 1984-2022 and deaths for 1837-1957 & 1984-2022 can be searched. The indexes were created from an old digitisation project that was cancelled midway through, before including marriages, so you will only find births and deaths in these new indexes.

Why is this so exciting for family historians?

The original GRO BMD indexes are available on multiple websites, such as Ancestry, Find My Past and FreeBMD. These websites are all based on the same data, the original (old) GRO indexes. These new indexes have been created afresh from the register images themselves, they are brand new! This means that where you have been unable to find an entry before due to errors in the GRO indexes available on the major websites, there is a chance that the new index may include your entry. On the downside, it is likely that different errors have been introduced.

More importantly though:

The new birth indexes include mother’s maiden name for births BEFORE 1911 (currently available 1837-1924).

The new death indexes include age at death for deaths BEFORE 1865.

This can make it really easy to find or confirm which birth or death entry is correct before having to order multiple certificates.

What can the new indexes reveal?

Here’s an example of how the new indexes can help. My great great grandparents, Joseph Hopkins and Isabella Wells, were recorded on the 1911 census as having had ten children, only five of whom had survived until 1911. I had identified nine children using a variety of sources, and a family grave lead me to believe the tenth child was an Edmund Hopkins. Searches for birth and deaths had so far been unsuccessful.

I used the new birth indexes to identify any Hopkins children born in the Aston or Birmingham registration districts in a twenty year period from Joseph and Isabella Wells’ marriage in 1869, with mother’s maiden name Wells. One birth appeared that I had not found before:

A search of the new death indexes to find an Edward James Hopkins who died between 1888 and the 1891 census found only:



It therefore seems that there is an error on my family grave. The missing child was Edward not Edmund. Excited to have potentially solved this puzzle I ordered both the birth and death for confirmation.

Using the new search

The new search, whilst offering the potential to solve problems, is not exactly user friendly. A search range of only +/- 2 years is possible and males and females have to be searched for separately. A screen shot of the birth search screen can be seen below:

It is not possible to use wildcards in the search though there are options for “sounds similar” and “phonetically similar” searches. Strictly speaking a woman's maiden name is the name she had at the time of her marriage. An unmarried mother therefore does not have a maiden name. This is reflected in the new indexes with a – in place of a name in these new indexes.

Ordering certificates 

You will notice from the screenshots above that when you select an entry in your search results you are presented with a number of formats in which to order the entry. Paper certificates that arrive through the post on coloured paper can still be ordered, at a standard cost of £12.50*,  but there are now other options too.

PDF copies

Pdf copies are available at a cost of £8.00 for the following years*:

• Births: 1837 – 1923
• Deaths: 1837 – 1957

Pdf copies contain the same information as the printed certificates, albeit in a more "basic" looking presentation. An example of a pdf copy certificate is shown below. This is the certificate I searched for earlier, and the parents' details confirm that this is the child of interest.

Digital copies

Digital copies can be downloaded as soon as your payment has completed. They are truncated compared to pdf and paper certificates and do not include the column headings, but do include the entry of interest in the register. Digital copies are available at a cost of £3.00 for the following years*:

Births: 1837 – 1923

Deaths: 1837 – 1957

An example digital copy of a birth register entry is shown below for comparison:

Certificate and pdf copies can be ordered both from the index search screen and by going straight to "place an order" screen if you have the GRO reference already from elsewhere. Digital copies are only available through the index searches. Note that pdf and digital copies are only available for birth and death entries (not marriages) and within the year ranges given above, at the time of writing.

* prices and year ranges correct at the time of writing, but subject to change.

Ordering from elsewhere

If you are ordering copies of General Register Office certificates for England and Wales, please only order them through the GRO's Certificate Ordering Service. Copies are available through other website but these usually add on additional fees which can be quite high.

Alternative copies may also be available at the local register office appropriate for the place in question.