Source:England & Wales. FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1983

FreeBMD is an ongoing project, the aim of which is to transcribe the Civil Registration INDEX of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales, and to provide free Internet access to the transcribed records. It is a part of the FreeUKGEN family, which also includes FreeCEN (Census data) and FreeREG (Parish Registers).

The recording of births, marriages and deaths was started in 1837 and is one of the most significant resources for genealogical research. The transcribing of the records is carried out by teams of dedicated volunteers.

As of 4 October 2013, the FreeBMD Database contains index information for the period 1837-1983. It contains 231,897,137 distinct records (293,791,465 total records). THE WHOLE PERIOD HAS NOT YET BEEN TRANSCRIBED, but much progress has been made since 2013. A breakdown by event and year can be viewed here [1].

NOTE: The index only gives the Registration District in which the event (birth, marriage or death) occurred and the quarter of the year in which it was registered. Do not give the index as a source if you have more precise details. Registration Districts have been added to WeRelate's Place Database.

Full registration certificates, which include more information (i.e., the specific date and parish for the event, names of other family members) must be applied for to the General Record Office (https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/#FamilyHistory1) who now have a special service for historical certificates (birth entries from 1837 -1918 and death entries from 1837 -1957). Later certificates cost £11 each, but the historical certificates (provided as PDFs) are available at a reduced rate or free. The website is not clear on this point, but there was a change in Spring, 2019.