Vital Records in the United Kingdom

England

Civil Registration of births, marriages and deaths started on 1 July 1837 in England and Wales. This was later expanded in 1927 to also include still births, and adoptions. Before this church records or parish records contained information on baptisms, marriages and burials.

All Civil Registration records are kept at: The Family Records Centre, 1 Mydlleton Street, Islington, London EC1R 1UW England

See this link: England and Wales Birth, Marriage, and Death Certificate Information

Your next step will be to search " parish registers". In the UK a"County" is like a "State" or "Province" in the USA and Canada. In turn, UK Counties are further divided into smaller areas until you come to the "parish". The "Yorkshire County" of old, (England's largest country), for example: has been divided into 3 Ridings, East, North, and West, known today as ERY/East Riding Yorkshire, NRY/North Riding Yorkshire and WRY/West Riding Yorkshire, besides the Ainsty or Liberty of the city of York. Each Riding has a lord-lieutenant and a separate court of quarter sessions and a commission of the peace, and statistically is treated as a distinct county. It contains 26 wapentakes; 3 liberties; 1636 parishs. (I may be wrong on exact numbers) While a "parish" in the US usually refers to an individual church, (or in the case of Louisianna, a state county), a parish in England would probably be more similiar to a US "township". "PRs" (parish records) contain a wealth of old records, including baptismal, marriage and buriel records. You will need to find out whether your parish has been included in the parishes of Great Britain which has been covered by the microfilm/microfiche of the LDS. (Latter-day-Saints) From there I would strongely suggest that you join a e-mail genealogy list group for the counties of interest. Members on such lists can provide invaluable assistance in locating and obtaining information and/or records.

Wales

Welsh genealogy follows a similiar pattern to English genealogy. Both English and Welsh Wills and administration records, since 1858, are also kept at: Somerset House Strand London, WC2A 1LR England The Welsh records in the Public Records Office were/are being transferred to the National Library of Wales. National Library of Wales Penglais, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3BU, Wales A large number of Welsh Wills are held at this library as well as the "Welsh Rolls", information/records recorded in great detail, dating from 1277.

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