• Where do I begin
• How do I obtain a certificate?
• Cost of Certificates
• How can I display my family tree?

Tracing your family tree is becoming an increasingly popular past time that can lead you to a greater understanding of your ancestors and the lives they lived.  It is a challenging and rewarding hobby but it can be difficult to know where to begin.  

Civil registration of births, deaths and marriages began in England and Wales in July 1837

Here at Torbay Register Office, we recieve enquiries from all over the world from many different types of people  There are those who want to trace their family tree as a leisure activity to those who are deperate to track down missing family members and fill in the gaps in their pasts.  Whilst we are not able to provide all the answers , we do aim to assist you as much as possible,

Where do I begin?

1. The first step is to gather all the information you can from relatives, names, dates, addresses, ancestor's religions, any documents such as wills, family bibles, newspaper cuttings, birth, death and marriage certificates.
2. The next step is to draw up a preliminary family tree, which should show you at a glance what information is missing Then work backwards using information known already about relatives.
3. If for example you know where and when your grandmother was born, you can apply for her birth certificate which will give you her parents full names and her mothers maiden name.  The next step would then be to find her parents marriage certificate.  A good place to start this search is The Family Records Centre in London.

How do I obtain a certificate?
To obtain a certificate you need to apply to the relevant district register office

(Please note that the Torbay Register Office only has records for its own district and not for neighbouring authorities. We do, however, hold contact numbers and addresses for all the register offices in England and Wales.)

If you are unsure which register office you need to contact you can apply on-line; in person to the General Register Office (GRO) in London; or to their office in Southport by post, fax or e-mail. (See Useful Addresses).The index for the entries is known as the G.R.O. Index. (You may sometimes hear this referred to as the St. Catherine's Index as the records used to be kept at St. Catherine's House.) Names are listed alphabetically by each quarter of each year and the registration district in which the event took place is given. (If the place name is unfamiliar you could check the adjacent number to see which county the code refers to. Click on this link to see the Guide to registration districts.)

Cost of Certificates
The cost of buying a full certificate from a district register office is currently £7. It is also possible to purchase certificates on-line for the same cost from the National Statistics Office. The cost of a postal application to the General Register Office is almost twice this amount. Both costs are determined by the Government.