Civil birth and death registration records from selected years are now available as instant-access digital images via the General Register Office (GRO) website.
Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths was introduced in England and Wales in 1837. The civil records are a vital resource in family history research.
Birth records from 1837 to 2021 and death records from 1837 to 1957 and 1984 to 2021 are indexed on the GRO website.
Family historians have previously had the option of ordering records as either a print record for £11 with a GRO index reference supplied, or a PDF for £7. It takes up to four working days for orders to be despatched.
However, the GRO has now launched a scheme for births from 1837 to 1922 and deaths from 1837 to 1887 to be available as digital images.
The digital images cost £2.50 each and are available to view immediately after purchase.
This puts the English and Welsh civil record ordering system more in line with the cheaper and more convenient system in Scotland, where family historians can view records instantly on the ScotlandsPeople website.
The scheme to order digital images is in the beta testing phase, but is publicly available to all registered users of the GRO website.
Rosemary Collins is the features editor of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine
