A photocopy of the original marriage certificate is what you get from the local register office. The certificate you get from the GRO is a copy of a copy. If you notice, the copy from the GRO is all in the same writing, signatures and all. The photocopy from the local register office has signatures in different writing unless there is a X. Kind regards Judith K ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arthur & Pauline Kennedy" <akpak@waitrose.com> To: <WEST-RIDING@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 8:21 PM Subject: Re: [WRY] Local REgistry Office vs General Registry Office > Just to clarify on this: > > Since 1837 churches have had to keep two copies of each marriage register. > At the beginning of January, April, July and October the minister has to > send a return to the local superintendent registrar of all marriages in > the > preceding quarter. The return may in practice be completed by a parish > clerk, but it has to be signed by the minister. The layout of the form is > more or less identical to that of the marriage register. > > The superintendent registrar collates the forms from his/her district and > sends them to the General Register Office. Copies of these returns might > be > kept at the register office (I don't know), but even if they are, they > can't > be used to produce certificates: a certificate produced by anyone other > than > the GRO can relate only to an entry in a register. > > (Have you ever noticed - GRO certificates are "Certified to be a true copy > of an entry in the certified copy of a register of Marriages in the > Registration District of ....", whereas those from a local registrar or a > minister are "Certified to be a true copy of an entry in a register in my > custody".) > > Since a superintendent registrar cannot issue a certificate relating to an > entry in a register which he does not have, as long as the marriage > registers are still in use certificates can be obtained from the minister > of > the church concerned. However, since they don't have the right equipment, > ministers would not be able to provide a certificate showing an original > signature. > > When church marriage registers are full, one copy has to be deposited with > the superintendent registrar and the other one remains the responsibility > of > the minister and local church. It is recommended, and usually happens, > that > it is then deposited in the Diocesan Record Office - usually the County > Record Office. > > Arthur > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Brenda" <ellis-b@sky.com> > To: <west-riding@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 6:58 PM > Subject: Re: [WRY] Local REgistry Office vs General Registry Office > > >> Hello Judith >> I was talking about the Parish Register which is kept in the church. In a >> book I have on this subject, it states that the parish clerk made a copy >> to >> send to the registry office. If you are lucky you will get a copy from >> the >> parish register, but otherwise you will get the copy the parish clerk >> wrote >> out. >> In my own case, my signature & that of my husband is in the Church's >> register. The copy we were given to keep had been written out previously, >> with our signatures copied & only the two witnesses signed again. >> Regards >> Brenda > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > WEST-RIDING-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message