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Births Deaths and Marriages
Civil registration of all births, deaths, marriages or civil partnership in England and Wales was introduced on 1 July 1837 and Civil registration of civil partnershps was introduced on 5 December 2005. Each time a birth, death or marriage took place a certificate was issued to record the event.
However, prior to 1875 records held by Register Offices may be incomplete as many people didn’t bother with registration until strict penalties for non-registration were introduced in that year. You may have to look at local sources such as parish registers in the county record office.
If you wish to obtain a certified copy of abirths, deaths, marriages or civil partnership entry for an event that took place within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on or after 1 July 1837 then you may apply directly to this office. Please note: Although our staff will try their hardest to locate the entry, all of our searches have to be done manually, and we cannot always guarantee to find the record you are looking for. For details, see the page Applying for a certificate.
Alternatively, if you have a GRO index reference then we recommend that you a pply to the Family Records Centre as they can guarantee to provide you with a certificate.
At the Family Records Centre, if you have a correct GRO index reference, the fee is £8.50 (five day service). If you are unable to quote a reference, the fee is £11.50 (10 day service). A charge is also levied to cover administration costs even if a search is unsuccessful. Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to ‘ONS’.
If you require a certificate urgently then you may consider the credit card hotline facility that the General Register Office offers. The telephone number is 0845 603 7788 and certificates are issued within 48 hours provided the entry can be located. The fee for this enhanced service is £27.50
If you wish to search for the record yourself then all birth, death and marriage indexes/references are held at The Family Records Centre.
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