The General Register Office (GRO) was established on 1 July 1837 to register births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales and provide statistical information on them.

The GRO established a network of local register offices, working through the newly-created poor law unions. There was no legal penalty for non-registration until 1878, and so there are deficiencies in the registers before that date. 

England and Wales

The indexes to births, marriages and deaths from 1837 are available on the GRO website, which also provides an online service for ordering certificates of entries in the registers. 

Copies of certificates can also be purchased directly from the Certificate Services Section, General Register Office, PO Box 2, Southport, PR8 2JD, telephone 0845 603 7788.

The indexes to civil registration can also be consulted at The National Archives, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, telephone 0208 876 3444.

Many local libraries, record offices and family history societies hold microfilm copies of the civil registration indexes, and a list of such bodies can be found on the GRO website.

Doncaster Area

The Doncaster Register office is located at Elmfield Park, Doncaster, DN1 2EB, telephone 01302 364922, or email registrars@doncaster.gov.uk. For further information please visit the Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships web pages.

Its registers date from 1837 to the present. Researchers may consult the indexes (not the original registers), but should make an appointment to do this.

Indexes to the civil register of births, marriages and deaths are available at the Doncaster and District Family History Society (FHS) Palgrave Research Room (charge to non-members), and Sheffield Archives, Lincolnshire Archives, Hull Central Library and Leeds Central Library.