General Register Office indexes

From Tuesday 13 April we hope to provide limited access to the GRO microfiche by appointment only. Please see our visitor information page for details on how to book

The Archives Centre provides access to the General Register Office's (GRO) published pre-digital indexes on a microfiche. 

We do not have copies of the certificates. Once you have found the index reference for the certificate you require, you must order the certificate direct from the General Register Office. 

If you need to order a copy of a birth, marriage or death certificate, the GRO will require an index reference which is given to every birth, adoption, marriage, civil partnership or death registered in England or Wales.  
 
This usually consists of the year, volume number, page number and district in which the event was registered. 

Alternatively, for copies of Westminster, Paddington or St Marylebone birth, marriage or death certificates from 1837, visit the Westminster Register Office.  

To locate marriage certificates, the Register Office also requires the name of the building in which the ceremony took place. 

For opening hours and location details, please see our Visitor information page. Copies of the GRO indexes are also available in London at the British Library. 

Accessing GRO indexes

Some early indexes can be searched online via FreeBMD.  

Visitors to City of Westminster Archives Centre can search all indexes, apart from the most recent ones, on the Westminster libraries' family history page. 

UK indexes

UK adoption records

We hold the indexes to adopted children between 1927 to 2018. 

For further information visit gov.uk for helpful pages on tracing birth relatives. 

Overseas indexes

These contain many regimental and army chaplains' returns. Deaths include war deaths between 1914 to 1921 and 1939 to 1948. 

These contain many regimental and army chaplains' returns. Deaths include war deaths between 1914 to 1921 and 1939 to 1948. 

Still Births

We do not hold any records of still births.  

For information about the Still Births register, please contact the General Register Office directly.

Accessing GRO indexes at other record offices and public libraries

To see a list of holders of the GRO indexes visit GOV.uk. 

If you're not local to Westminster, most public library services in the UK provide free access to the indexes up to and including 2005, via an online database subscription. Please contact them for further details.