From: Mike Fry <[email protected]> > On 2012/01/10 01:45, Peter R Booth wrote: > > > Ancestry has access to BDM data from London Archives. It's > the equivalent of a BDM certificate. > > No! A certificate from the GRO (or local offices) certifies birth. > The records from the LMA certify baptism, which sometimes took place several > years after birth. The first is Civil, and only dates from 1837, the latter > Religious and can date from 1538. > > Yes! Marriages generally concur. From 1837, Civil marriage records > are generated from the Religious (and other non-religious) records. > > -- > Regards, > Mike Fry > Johannesburg> In fact, you can save yourself an awful lot of money by the judicious obtaining of marriage certificates from the LMA records when researching London ancestors (or, in my case as a professional, researching for other people). I do not have a full Ancestry subscription, being a Findmypast man, but occasionally I purchase pay-as-you-go units from Ancestry when searching the London records. Theoretically, you can get 12 marriage certificates (and these are originals from the registers, the GRO ones are copies) for £6.95, whereas buying them from Southport would cost £111. A pity it doesn't apply to birth certificates as well! But, as you say, the records are of baptisms, not births, and these tend to vary in quality and the amount of information given. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE