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Civil Registration

The official recording of births, marriages and deaths by the government, known as civil registration, began in England on 1 July 1837. When the system was introduced the country was divided up into registration districts and it became compulsory for people to inform their local registrar when a birth, marriage or death took place.

Births, marriages and deaths are recorded by local registrars around the country and the details are forwarded to the General Register Office (GRO) every three months where the information is collated into national indexes. For a more detailed look at civil registration in England see:
An introduction to British civil registration
FamilySearch wiki on Civil Registration in England

Online Indexes

FreeBMD
Volunteers have transcribed the quarterly national GRO indexes from 1837 onwards. This is an ongoing project with very good coverage up to the 1920s and 1930s. Try the following searching tips for better results:

• Check the coverage charts to see how much data has been transcribed for a particular year
• Try checking the Phonetic search surnames box if you do not get the desired results
• For marriages, clicking on the volume number will show the names of other people listed on the same page. This is useful for checking whether or not you have the correct marriage where the spouse’s name is known
• Click on the name of the registration district for more information. This will often give you a list of villages included in that area

Findmypast UK - available within the State Library building
Births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales are searchable on Findmypast UK. This e-resource can be particularly useful for ancestors who may have been born, married or died overseas.

Births 1761-2006 consists of

England & Wales births 1837-2006
British nationals born overseas 1818-2005
British nationals armed forces births 1761-2005
British nationals born at sea 1854-1887

Marriages  1796-2005 consists of

England & Wales  marriages 1837-2005
British nationals married overseas 1818-2005
British nationals armed forces marriages 1796-2005
British nationals married at sea 1854-1908

Deaths 1796-2006 consists of 

England & Wales deaths 1837-2006
British nationals died overseas 1818-2005
British nationals armed forces deaths 1796-2005
British nationals died at sea 1854-1890

Ancestry library edition - available within the State Library building and at most public libraries in Western Australia
Births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales are also available on Ancestry.

Births
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916-2005

Marriages
England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index, 1837-1915
England & Wales, Marriage Index: 1916-2005

Deaths
England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915
England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2005

Guide to Ancestry library edition
Use the State Library guide to Ancestry for more information about the database, including how to print.

UKBMD
This is another volunteer project which has involved transcribing local register office indexes rather than the national index. It is nowhere near as complete as FreeBMD but may be a useful alternative.

Other Indexes

General Register Office birth, death and marriage indexes
The General Register Office Index, sometimes known as St. Catherine’s Index, is available on microform from 1837 to 1970 in the Genealogy Centre on the 1st floor. You need to search four separate microfilm reels or microfiche (Jan-Mar; Apr-Jun; Jul-Aug; Sep-Dec) for each year.

Ordering Certificates

General Register Office
Certificates can be ordered from the General Register Office. Their website has details of costs and how to apply.

Local Register Offices in England & Wales  
Alternatively, certificates can be ordered from local register offices. Contact details for all register offices in England can be found on this website.

What information can I find?

English  birth, marriage and death certificates contain much less information than those for Australia. For a detailed breakdown of information recorded, see our guide:
Information found on certificates for Australian states, New Zealand and the British Isles
Please note that the information recorded on certificates depends on the knowledge of the person who was informing the registrar. Therefore, some information may be missing or incorrect.

The following books also give detailed information about English certificates:
Birth and death certificates England and Wales 1837 to 1969
Marriages and certificates in England and Wales

How do I find births, marriages and deaths before 1837?

Our Parish Registers page explains how to find baptisms, marriages and burials in church records.