I have read the correspondence by John Tysoe and Lin Watterson with some interest. Thankfully, no-one has had to sort through my effects yet, but I do have a birth certificate such as they describe. Mine is a flimsy, 140mm x 110mm "Form of Certificate of Registry of Birth or Stillbirth" issued in Bromsgrove in 1938 (did they specialise in these, I wonder, Lin?). It simply certifies "that the Birth of a male/female child (still)/born on the (date) has been registered...". It gives the entry number and Registry book number (not the same, incidentally, as the GRO reference), the name of the informant and their "qualifications" (i.e. mother, in my case). It nowhere gives the name of the child!! I believe cost was a factor in my mother obtaining this form of certificate, and it sufficed for my purposes until 1959 when, for some reason which now escapes me, I obtained from the Bromsgrove Registry Office a slightly more robust note measuring 160mm x 160mm, which gives my full name, sex and birth date and a statement "that the above particulars have been compiled from an entry in a register in my custody". I do not recall why I was not given a full copy of the entry itself. However, this got me through life until earlier this year when, at the age of 67, I was finally required to obtain a certificate showing the names of both my parents in connection with my application for Australian citizenship. And this answers Lin Watterson: ("I guess if we sent for copies today we would get the full details") -- yes, you would. Best regards, Keith Houghton, in Sydney (Oz).

Hi, to those who are looking into birth certificates you can still buy either the short certificate or the full certificate and there is a difference in cost. Have a look at the Statistic Office site and you will see the application form. Hope this helps. Regards Joan

The Cost of a full certificate,is £7 or £11 if you dont have a refernce for it,you give a approximate year and they will search two years either side of it,you can also use reference checking service,whereby you give a father or mothers name,if it dose not match,they wont send it,but give a part refund chargeing abot £3 for admin. I have been buying certificates online for sometime,last year they opened the facility worldwide,one important factor when doing this,allways tick at the beginning if you have the reference details,or you will be charged the higher fee. Joyce order online, http://www.col.statistics.gov.uk/ it looks like a error page at first,but click on the link on there and it will take you through. e-mail, certificate.services@ons.gov.uk Tel Uk 0845 603 778 International +44 0845 603 778 Joyce ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joan Hall" <lachyosh@btinternet.com> To: <ENG-WORCESTER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 11:20 AM Subject: Re: [WOR] Birth Certificates > Hi, to those who are looking into birth certificates you can still buy > either the short certificate or the full certificate and there is a > difference in cost. Have a look at the Statistic Office site and you will > see the application form. Hope this helps. Regards Joan > > > ==== ENG-WORCESTER Mailing List ==== > Transcribers wanted for Worcestershire FreeREG > for more information see http://freereg.rootsweb.com > UK Census on-line > http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ > http://www.worcestershiresurnames.co.uk/ > >