Using The GRO Index To Find Births, Marriages and Deaths

The GRO Index is a key resource in tracing your family tree. It offers a list of all births, marriages and deaths registered in England and Wales since civil registration began.

The indexes alone can help you with your research, but they also offer the key to your ancestor’s birth, marriage or death certificate. These documents offer a wealth of information about your ancestors’ lives and can provide the clues to the next generation back.

So read on to find out how to use the GRO Index with Unlock Your Family Tree’s ultimate guide…

What Is The GRO Index?

In 1836 it was decided that all births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales should be registered in order to keep track of the growing population.

And so following the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1836, the General Register Office (GRO) was established. Thomas Henry Lister was appointed as the first Registrar General to oversee the collection of records.

England and Wales was split into registration districts, each with its own Superintendant Registrar. Each district was then split into sub-districts where a local registrar was responsible for recording all births and deaths in the area.

A register of marriages was kept by the officiating minister at the parish church (or other place of worship) with a copy sent to the local registrar.

The registrars sent all the records they had collected to the Superintendant Registrar who then compiled indexes of the records for the whole district.

Once a quarter each Superintendant Registrar sent copies of their records to the Registrar General in London.

At the General Register Office (GRO) the quarterly records from all districts were then indexed to create a central index for all of England and Wales. This central index is known as the GRO Index.

Each life event has its own index split into quarterly volumes, with the individual records listed alphabetically by surname.

To order a copy of a birth, marriage or death certificate you will need to consult these indexes in order to find the GRO index reference number corresponding to the record you are after.

The GRO index reference number consists of the Volume and Page Number of the register where the event is recorded.

What Information Can You Find In The GRO Index?

Birth Index

The birth index provides the names of all people whose births were registered in that quarter arranged alphabetically by surname. It is possible that someone was born in one quarter but their birth not registered until the next quarter, so bear that in mind when searching.

For each entry you will find the following information:

Name - You will at least find surname. You should find the full first name in most cases or in earlier records an initial. Middle names may be recorded in full, by initial, or not at all.

Registration District – The Registration District containing the sub-district that your ancestor’s birth was registered in.

GRO Index Reference Number – This reference number consists of the Volume and Page Number of the register book in which the birth was recorded.

Mother’s Maiden Name – From 1^st July 1911 onwards the mother’s maiden name was also added to the indexes making it much easier to find the correct entry.

Example of an entry on the birth index covering Oct, Nov and Dec 1855:

Marriage Index

As with the birth indexes you will find name, registration district and GRO reference number for each individual who married in that quarter.

As the indexes are arranged alphabetically by surname, the bride and groom will be listed separately. However, they will have the same GRO reference number. So it is possible to check you have the correct record if you know the name of both spouses.

For example:

On page 262 of the Quarter 2 (April, May and June) 1875 Marriage Index we find the groom

And on page 183 we find the bride

Now that the indexes have been transcribed into searchable databases online it is possible to see a list of all the people whose marriage entries appear on one particular Volume and Page Number of the register. So if you do not know the name of your ancestor’s spouse you can at least narrow it down to a list of the people who are registered on the same page.

For example:

If we did not know who Eliza Pitt’s spouse was we could narrow the potential grooms down by seeing the names of all men who have the same GRO reference number 1c 705.

However, you do not need the names of both spouses to order a marriage certificate. You can just apply with the details of either the bride or the groom if you are unsure.

After 1^st January 1912 it gets a lot easier thanks to the inclusion of the surname of spouse in the index. So had our example couple above got married after this date their entries would have appeared as follows:

Death Index

The death index provides the name of the deceased, registration district and GRO reference number. From 1866 onwards the age of the deceased was also included. The date of birth of the deceased replaced age at death from 1969 onwards making it much easier to ensure you have the right person.

Example of a death index:

Quarter 2 (Apr-May-Jun) 1921

Where Can I Search The GRO Index Online?

FreeBMD: This excellent website aims to provide a searchable online database of the GRO index for free. A huge amount of effort has gone into the transcription of the indexes by volunteers. They are making excellent progress and now depending on which type of life event you are looking for the database is pretty much complete from 1837 up to around the 1940s/1950s. You can see the progress of the project for each type of the record on the website.

Ancestry: You can also search the FreeBMD database from 1837 to 1915 free on Ancestry. For the birth, marriage and death indexes from 1916-2005/6 you will need to be a member.

Find My Past: A fully searchable database of the birth, marriage and death indexes are also available to search at Find My Past. However to see the original image of the index (or a transcript) and get the GRO reference number you will need to have a subscription or use Pay As You Go credits.

Next Steps

Once you have found the correct record for your ancestor you can order a copy of their birth, marriage or death certificates.