Dear List Members, I should like to correct the impression that no birth certificates were issued in British India. I used to think this to be the case until I became more familiar with the India Office Records. >From (I think) the 1880s, persons could opt to register their children with one of a series of local Registry Offices in India. A birth certificate was produced and copies of these are included in the N/- series records along with the copies of the more usual Baptismal records. I have not come across any individual with both records included. The data included in Birth Certificates are essentially the same as in Baptismal certificates and the percentage of the former increases slowly from the 1880s until Independence. Registry Office Marriages were authorized from 1852 onwards, of course, and there is a separate series of records for these. Good Hunting and best wishes for Christmas Peter Bailey Chairman Families in British India Society www.fibis.org