I am re-sending the message below to the list becaue it bounced back at me for some reason that I don't understand. Apologies if you have already seen this message. HI Joan, I think you might find it useful to read up on the subject of Civil Registration at the genuki pages for England www.genuki.org.uk This site is a very useful one for all things genealogical. To get a copy of the birth certificate of your Alexander Landles, you first need to find the Birth registration in the GRO Index. You can't just ask the GRO, General Register Office, at Southport or the local district registrars office to send you the birth certificate, you have to give them not only the year of the birth but also the Quarter of that year in which the birth took place. The years are split into the 4 quarter and these quarters go by the last month of each of them, e.g. March Qtr. June Qtr., September Qtr and December Qtr. The country is split into Registration Districts each District covering a wide area of towns and villages . Another thing to bear in mind is that birth places, and ages, in the census are very often not correct. Ages can be out by a year or two, or even more, the birth place might be the place where that person remembers living as a child but might not be where he had actually been born. I found,on FreeBMD; what must be your Alexander Landles birth in June Qtr of 1854 at Alnwick Registrars District with the reference volume 10b page258 FreeBMD is at http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ With the Year, Quarter, District name, Volume and Page numbers, plus of course the name of the child, you can now order a copy of this entry from the GRO via their website. The GRO website is at http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/ go to the section on the right of this page entitled Research and look for Ordering Certificates Online. You just carefully fill in the boxes with the information, make sure you check the box asking whether or not you have the Reference for the entry. You can pay for your order with your credit card on line here, no extra charge for postage and no need for a SAE. For future reference. FreeBMD is a transcript of the GRO index and is as yet not quite a complete transcript so you may find another time that you cannot find the entry you seek on the site. In that case you can search the GRO index itself at the Ancestry website free of charge, you do not need to be a subscriber to Ancestry to access this one index. www.ancestry.co.uk look for the link to UK Births Marriages and Deaths records. Regards Jenny DeAngelis. Spain. > I have found my great Grandfather Alexander LANDLES born about 1854 on > the 1861 census born in place called Newton by the Sea Northumberland. > Which Registry Office should I send to for his birth certificate? > I know about the correct fee and to and to send a stamped addressed > envelope . I really need the nearest Registry Office.