lnformation about
searching the registration indexes and purchasing copies of birth,
marriage or death certificates to help with family tree
research.
Family History
Family history has become a very popular pastime for many
people. The process can be time consuming, fascinating and at times
frustrating and upsetting.
New to family history or need some advice? then visit our
Tracing
your family history page.
When do civil registration records begin?
Civil Registration began in England and Wales on 1st July 1837.
From this date each Register Office will have its
own registers and indexes covering all births, marriages and deaths
that occurred in their district.
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How do I find out about records before 1837?
The
Suffolk Record Office hold records of marriages before
1837.
Can I look at the Registers?
It is not possible for the Civil Registers to be looked at by
members of the public. But, each Register is indexed and it is
possible to do a search of the indexes - a search for up to six
hours costs £18.00. This should be booked in advance with the
Register
Office whose indexes you wish to search.
Parish registers of baptisms, banns of marriage, marriages and
burials up to 1900 are available on microfiche to be looked at by
members of the public at the
Suffolk Record Office.
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How can I see the information contained in the Registers?
Copies of entries can be purchased in the form of full certified
copy certificates. A short certificate of birth can also
be purchased but this is not recommended for family history
purposes as it only contains the name of the child and its date and
district of birth.
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Which Office do I contact?
You will need to contact the office where the event was registered.
For example, if you would like a copy of a birth record for an
ancestor born in Bury St Edmunds, then you will need
to contact The Bury St Edmunds Register Office.
Contact:
Suffolk
Register Offices
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How do I apply for copies of certificates?
1) In person at the
register
office - An application form can be completed in reception. To
save time at the office you can download an application form
here.
Don't worry if you can't complete every box. We will do
our best to locate the entry based on the information you have.
2) By post
Either download an application form (above) or write a short
letter which should include the approximate date and place of the
birth, death or marriage and the full name(s) of the people
concerned. Send this with your remittance to the
Register
Office. Please also include a stamped addressed envelope.
payment for postal applications may be made by:
- cheque or postal order made payble to 'Superintendent
Registrar'. If you are applying for a number of certificates it is
a good idea to send a separate cheque for each certificate
requested - just in case we are unsuccessful in tracing one of the
entries.
- credit or debit card by completing our
credit card payment form (PDF, 21Kb) and enclose it with your
application.
3) By telephone using a debit or credit card
Telephone the
register
office during their opening hours and pay using your debit or
credit card. A postage and packing fee may
apply.
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How soon will I receive the certificates I have ordered?
From 1st August 2006 we will be offering two levels of
service:-
- Our standard service - the certifcate will be dispatched or be
available for collection within 10 working days.
- Our Express service - the certificate will be dispatched or
available for collection at the end of the next working day. An
addtional £10 fee applies for this service.
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How much does it cost?
Standard Service
A full certificate costs £7.00. Short birth
certificates are £5.50. (Short birth certificates do not show any
parentage information)
Cheques should be made payable to 'Superintendent
Registrar'.
Express Service
An additional £10.00 fee applies to the above prices.
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Helping you to help us
Please include as much useful information as possible. The
parish in which an event occurred is much more useful to us than
the district. This is especially true for marriage searches - many
districts can cover over 70 parishes, that's 70 marriage indexes to
manually search not forgetting the Register Office index.
Try to keep your request relevant - sometimes we receive long
letters explaining many aspects of your family history in great
detail. This serves only to slow our search down. We just need to
know the event that you are looking for, the approximate date it
occurred and any other names which may appear in the entry. For
example, a father's name on a marriage entry.
Please include a daytime contact number or e-mail address -
sometimes we need to check a small detail with you before issuing
the certificate.
The reference number shown on the fiche records of St
Catherine's Index/GRO unfortunately does not help us at all. We
wish it did! Our records are indexed totally differently.
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Can we apply for certificates in person?
Yes you may, but it is extremely unlikely that we will be able
to search for them while you wait. For more information please
email
enquiries@registrars.suffolkcc.gov.uk.
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How can I find out the parishes in each of the registration
districts in Suffolk in 1837?
There is useful guidance at
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SFK/RegDists.html