CWatters <colin.watters@NOturnersoakSPAM.plus.com> wrote on Mon, 11 Jan 2016 at 19:48:00: >While ordering copies of some English Death certificates I noticed the >GRO have an option to order "Overseas Certificates". > >I'm aware that a British citizen born abroad can register the birth at >the British Consulate but was that info routinely sent back to the UK ? I remember consulting at GRO a bound index of consular registrations for a birth registered in the 1940s. > >In short what are the odds of someone born in Spain around 1887 to >British parents having a record at the GRO that I can now order? Who knows how likely it is that the parents registered the birth there? > >The family must have lived in Spain for awhile because several children >were born there according to census data. -- Iain Archer

On Mon, 11 Jan 2016 21:01:19 +0000, Iain Archer <ianews.12@gmail.com> wrote: >CWatters <colin.watters@NOturnersoakSPAM.plus.com> wrote on Mon, 11 Jan >2016 at 19:48:00: >>While ordering copies of some English Death certificates I noticed the >>GRO have an option to order "Overseas Certificates". >> >>I'm aware that a British citizen born abroad can register the birth at >>the British Consulate but was that info routinely sent back to the UK ? > They were routinely sent back but only if someone told the consulate. All returns went into the records held by the GRO in London irrespective of where the parents were domiciled. If either parent was recorded as coming from somewhere in the UK other than England and Wales then the birth should also be in a subset of foreign records held by their home country's GRO. Those for Scotland are available via ScotlandsPeople under "Minor Records". Note that some of the original documents from which the consulate copied the information for the UK record might be available free if the country/state concerned has put their records online or has e.g. made them available to www.familysearch.org . >I remember consulting at GRO a bound index of consular registrations for >a birth registered in the 1940s. >> >>In short what are the odds of someone born in Spain around 1887 to >>British parents having a record at the GRO that I can now order? > I've got a relative's birth registered in Valparaiso in Chile in 1876 so your odds should only depend on whether or not the consulate was advised. >Who knows how likely it is that the parents registered the birth there? >> >>The family must have lived in Spain for awhile because several children >>were born there according to census data.

Thanks for all the replies. I will have a think about which overseas certs I need.