TAMESIDE LOCAL AND FAMILY HISTORY

It is often quite difficult to understand why Local Register Offices cannot always find and issue copy marriage certificates, when you have been careful enough to give them the correct year and quarter and GRO (General Register Office) Reference Number.

The GRO Reference Number is compiled from quarterly returns from local offices, and so the marriage record at the General Register Office will be found in alphabetical order together with all those that took place nationally in that particular quarter.

Local Register Offices, however, index their records according the individual church where the marriage took place. The reference numbers to these marriages are prefixed with the letters CE (Church of England).

Civil Registration gave non-conformists a choice of venue for marriages for the first time since 1754. Register Offices were established where marriages could take place (Civil Marriages). In addition, non-conformists could have their chapels approved for marriages, according to their own rites and ceremonies, provided the ceremony took place in the presence of the Registrar. He took his marriage register along to the ceremony and then took it back to the register office. These are called Registrar Attended marriages and they are recorded along with Civil Marriages. The reference numbers for these marriages are prefixed RM (Registrar Marriage).

The Marriage Act of 1898 now allowed non-conformist churches to appoint Authorised Persons to record marriages in their chapels. The reference numbers for marriages in these churches and chapels are prefixed AP (Approved Person).

To indicate how difficult it is for Local Registrars to find a marriage record click here to see a list of:

And so, when applying for marriage certificates from local offices, it is important to give the staff as much information as possible to ensure a successful search.

The Cheshire BMD Project has put an end to this problem for Registrars and for Family History Researchers by putting all the local indexes up to 1974 on-line. Keep checking the coverage of these indexes click here So the Cheshire BMD website is the your first place to look. By clicking on the reference number in the top right-hand corner, you can also print off a partially completed application form to send off for your certificate.

To see how this tremendously successful project, which was pioneered by the Family History Society of Cheshire, is spreading to surrounding counties, visit the UK BMD website and click on Local BMD.

created by Gay J Oliver 2004: up-dated September 2006 © Copywrite:all rights reserved