Family History Help

Welcome to family history, or genealogy, or as it is more formally called one of Britain's fastest growing hobbies. Hundreds of thousands of people are actively tracing their ancestry. And little wonder, for it is an ideal pastime for anybody interested in history and who has perhaps wondered where their family came from. Family history can make the history learnt at school come alive when you realize that your ancestors weren't just bystanders - they were participants. Your grandfathers might have been at the Battle of the Somme, while other ancestors may have fled the Irish potato famine or worked in the mills of the Industrial Revolution.

Family history needs a little perseverance, a little organization and some luck, with that it should be relatively easy to trace at least one side of your family back 250 years or so.

At some time everyone will need to search for births, marriages, and deaths.

St Catherine's own the General Register Office Index, from Jan 1838 to Dec 2003, the index to births, marriages, and deaths in England & Wales (Formerly the St Catherine's House Index). This is available to query.

This archive contains over 510 million names and is available to search from the comfort of your own home.

This cuts out the cost of travel to and from the records offices and the need to book a place some weeks in advance.

Results are available in hours rather than weeks.

The service is not free but set against the cost of travel and time, and the fact that it is not necessary to book in advance then it certainly gives excellent value for money.

St Catherine's operates a search service carried out by qualified researchers.

About the General Register Office Indexes which we hold.

Civil registration of births, deaths and marriages for England and Wales began on 1 July 1837.

The General Register Office is located in Southport Merseyside but is not accessible to the public.

The indexes to these records have been microfiched, and St Catherine's has purchased fiche for the period 1 June 1837 to 31 December 1983. Also digitised data from Jan 1984 to 2003

You will need a reference from the Index to obtain a birth, marriage, or death certificate.

Please note the following.
Prior to 1875 it was not compulsory to register, so the records were incomplete. In 1875 penalties were introduced for those who did not register births within 42 days, but it remained a common belief that baptism automatically registered a child. Before 1875 poor people were less likely to register their children than the better off, and children who died soon after birth were also more likely to be missed. It is probable that at least a third of the population is missing from the birth and death registers between 1837 and 1875, although the continuing church and chapel registers of baptisms and burials may still record some of these people.

Please note that the index covers only England and Wales, not Scotland or Ireland.

Each year is divided into 4 quarters ending 31 March, 30 June, 30 September, and 31 December. For example anyone born in the January would be found in March quarter, and so on.
Indexing is based on the date of registration, not the date of the actual event.

The index does not contain full details from the certificates. Once you have received your search results you will have a reference containing the information you need to apply for a copy of the actual birth, death or marriage certificate.

N.B. Certificates are NOT held by St Catherine's or the record offices and other institutions, however St Catherine's can obtain certificates for you.

The microfiche have been filmed from actual indexes and some of the document printouts are very difficult to read when on microfiche, however because we use qualified researchers used to working with this data, we can usually guarantee results.

Login to the members area by clicking the login button on the top right of the page.

How do I request a search of the General Register Office Index?

An Example Search

First you need to Become a member.

Login to the Members area.

From the nest page that appears,
Click on the text which says StCaths Membership.

From the next screen choose any of the underlined text for our articles, or the GRO Searches or Free Searches from the top menu.

For a Free Search click the button marked with the type of search you require. For GRO Index searches click the text on the top menu.

If a GRO Search fill in the form as it appears on the page as shown below.
Enter a Surname & Firstname, and a district/town/city if you know it.

That's it, a notation will be sent to you by email. If your search was succesful the the results will appear in 'My Searches' your personal search database, from this page you can order certificates also.

Please note that each time you request a search that is not in the partial archive it is deducted from the number search tokens allocated.

Requesting a Birth , Marriage, or Death Certificate?

You must first conduct a search as shown above.

After which do the following.

Login to the Members area.
Go to the My Searches page which lists all your successful GRO Index searches by clicking Full Details you will find all the details have been added for you. You can edit the postal address if you wish.

Requesting a certificate from My Searches page.
R equesting a certificate from the My Searches page means most of the the information will have been entered in the boxes including your address. You may change any information that is not correct.
Please remember that if your request is for a birth after December 1953 you must complete the parts shown in red. Failure to do this will mean we cannot accept your certificate request.

You can request unlimited free searches of the entire 1881 Census for the uk if you are a member at StCaths.

You can request unlimited free searches of the St Catherines House Parish Records if you are a member at StCaths.

The Parish Records however only contain a very small portion of all the available records for births & marriages between 1530 & 1837, (some 12 million) where it is very useful tool it does not compare with the General Register Office Index/St Catherines House Index, which contains some 520 million entries covering the years 1837 to the present day, for births marriages and deaths.

What is covered by the Parish Records. Click here.
(You will need Acrobat Reader to view these files). You can download Acrobat Reader free from Adobe.com


St Catherine's took the decision to use qualified researchers used to working with the data and to use Internet technology as a tool to transmit the data quickly and accurately to a greater audience than was ever possible before.

The above information is for guidance only. It has been prepared using information available at the time of writing.
St Catherine's nor its parent company Clicksmart will be held liable for any discrepancies within this guide.
Where links to web sites or addresses are included this does not mean that St Catherine's or its parent company Clicksmart has any links to, or is part of, any organization governmental or otherwise. No responsibility can be accepted for the accuracy or content of linked documents, addresses, or web sites.


Remember the above service is only available to members only.