Up to a few days ago I would have agreed with you Debbie but following Susan Atkins restricted Marriage Challenge I browsed the www. lancashirebmd.org.uk website and it seemed to infer that some Register office marriages are available at certain Record offices. Manchester and Liverpool being examples however on checking with the Manchester record office it seems that's the law that prevents us from browsing these registers! Best Wishes and Kind Regards Rich Scantlebury www.scantlebury.talktalk.net http://www.flickr.com/photos/richscats http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Scantlebury/ -----Original Message----- From: goons-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:goons-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Debbie Kennett via Sent: 15 February 2015 14:27 To: preece@one-name.org; 'Ian Preece'; goons@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [G] Register Office Marriages - why no historic access? Ian You can apply for certificates for marriages which took place in Register Offices in just the same way that you can apply for certificates for marriages that took place in churches. I have many certificates for Register Office marriages. However, it would be good if the historic Register Office birth, marriage and death records could be digitised and made available through one of the commercial providers. I don't know if there are reasons why these have not been digitised, and I also await enlightenment! Debbie -----Original Message----- From: goons-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:goons-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Ian Preece via Sent: 15 February 2015 11:21 To: goons@rootsweb.com Subject: [G] Register Office Marriages - why no historic access? This is something I have accepted over the years, but never really understood the reason for it. If I want a marriage certificate for any of my family I can quite happily apply for and receive it unless of course they married at the Register Office. I could perhaps understand even if there was a time limitation, but why are no historic registers from the Register Office available for general public search, or even for scanning by the subscription-based companies? I am aware that on occasion they grant access for indexing projects (Herefordshire being a good local example for me). I assume they are simply retained by the RO - why are they not deposited in the same way that (most) parish registers are? I'm guessing there is a very obvious reason, I await enlightenment! Ian Preece _____________________________________________ RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc. http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GOONS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Rich It's my understanding that the LancsBMD project was in done conjunction with the local Registrar's office (and with their instigation) so that all the registers were available. I also gather from when I started to look (several years later) at doing a similar project in Bucks that the national picture had changed (ie with the now-aborted DOVE project etc) that it would not be easy to repeat it. I got the feeling that LancsBMD was driven by willing people on both sides (the "official" and the "amateur" sides) and "cannot do it" rules were imposed later. Brian On 19/02/2015 14:32, Richard Scantlebury via wrote: > Up to a few days ago I would have agreed with you Debbie but following Susan > Atkins restricted Marriage Challenge I browsed the www. lancashirebmd.org.uk > website and it seemed to infer that some Register office marriages are > available at certain Record offices. Manchester and Liverpool being examples > however on checking with the Manchester record office it seems that's the > law that prevents us from browsing these registers! > > Best Wishes and Kind Regards > > Rich Scantlebury > > www.scantlebury.talktalk.net > > http://www.flickr.com/photos/richscats > > http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Scantlebury/ > > -----Original Message----- > From: goons-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:goons-bounces@rootsweb.com] On > Behalf Of Debbie Kennett via > Sent: 15 February 2015 14:27 > To: preece@one-name.org; 'Ian Preece'; goons@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [G] Register Office Marriages - why no historic access? > > Ian > > You can apply for certificates for marriages which took place in Register > Offices in just the same way that you can apply for certificates for > marriages that took place in churches. I have many certificates for Register > Office marriages. > > However, it would be good if the historic Register Office birth, marriage > and death records could be digitised and made available through one of the > commercial providers. I don't know if there are reasons why these have not > been digitised, and I also await enlightenment! > > Debbie > > -----Original Message----- > From: goons-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:goons-bounces@rootsweb.com] On > Behalf Of Ian Preece via > Sent: 15 February 2015 11:21 > To: goons@rootsweb.com > Subject: [G] Register Office Marriages - why no historic access? > > This is something I have accepted over the years, but never really > understood the reason for it. > > If I want a marriage certificate for any of my family I can quite happily > apply for and receive it unless of course they married at the Register > Office. I could perhaps understand even if there was a time limitation, but > why are no historic registers from the Register Office available for general > public search, or even for scanning by the subscription-based companies? > > I am aware that on occasion they grant access for indexing projects > (Herefordshire being a good local example for me). I assume they are simply > retained by the RO - why are they not deposited in the same way that (most) > parish registers are? > > I'm guessing there is a very obvious reason, I await enlightenment! > > Ian Preece > > _____________________________________________ > > RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc. > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GOONS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message > > > _____________________________________________ > > RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GOONS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Richard While we can't browse the historic registers of the Register Office marriages you can still send off for a marriage certificate either to the General Register Office or to the local register office. For all my Register Office marriages I didn't know that the marriage had even taken place in a Register Office until I received the certificate. Debbie -----Original Message----- From: Richard Scantlebury [mailto:richard.scantlebury@talktalk.net] Sent: 19 February 2015 14:32 To: 'Debbie Kennett'; goons@rootsweb.com Subject: RE: [G] Register Office Marriages - why no historic access? Up to a few days ago I would have agreed with you Debbie but following Susan Atkins restricted Marriage Challenge I browsed the www. lancashirebmd.org.uk website and it seemed to infer that some Register office marriages are available at certain Record offices. Manchester and Liverpool being examples however on checking with the Manchester record office it seems that's the law that prevents us from browsing these registers! Best Wishes and Kind Regards Rich Scantlebury