On why finding Uncle George has just become easier

Birth certificate of G B Simpson, 1899, Alloa, Clackmannanshire

Searching for relatives is not a cheap hobby.

Nor for that matter is it any cheaper when you are looking for some lost resident of a house or family as part of a research project.

So I am pleased that the General Registry Office which is responsible of issuing birth, marriage and death certificates is about to explore cheaper ways of providing such records.

A full certificate costs £9.25 which can be a bit steep if you have a whole shed load of family members you want to find out about, and even more expensive when on a hunch you order a certificate up only to discover it is not one of yours.

But the Government has accepted an amendment to the Deregulation Bill which changes the definition of the documents the General Registry Office (GRO) supplies to the public.*

Under the new rules the GRO can start to explore alternative options which could mean following the Scottish model and providing digital copies for BMD which can be accessed at ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk

Now I have to say I had no idea that ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk offered this service and as my father’s family came from Scotland researching them has become a whole lot easier and of course cheaper.

My great grandparents, 1869

Back when my sisters’ first started looking for our family in the 1970s it involved trips to churches from the Lowlands into  the Highlands comparing parish records with gravestones.

The internet has made all that easier and now the possibilities of digital copies open up even more exciting opportunities.

After all for most of us a digital copy will suffice and will be so much cheaper, with that added bonus of saving a tree.

So what is there to complain about that?

Pictures; birth certificate of G.B.Simpson, 1899 and the gravestone of George Honeyman Simpson and Cecillia Anderson Simpson 1869, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*GRO, http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/
**Amendment paves way for BMD changes, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? MAGAZINE Issue 98 April 2015, www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com