Hints on using the indexes

Note that some children had not been given first names when their birth was registered. These are listed at the end of the each surname, e.g. at the end of the Jones listing you will see: Jones, female.

When looking up marriages, particularly those pre-1912 when the indexes do not give the spouse's surname, you should look up the names of both the bride and the groom. Start with the most unusual of the two surnames and once you've found a likely entry, look up the spouse's name in the same quarter and see if the
registration details match.

Beware if you are searching through the marriage indexes for a reference number to match that of your ancestor as in each quarter there will be four people with the same reference:
Two brides and two grooms.
This is because the reference numbers refer to pages in the volumes of certificates held at the General Register Office. Each page has two certificates on it and, therefore, two marriages will have the same reference.

If you can't find the person you are looking for, don't forget to check the indexes under various different spellings. Think how a registrar might have written down the surname as he heard it, particularly if it was said with a strong local accent!
Over 50 variations of the surname 'Osborne' have been found!

Remember that the indexes only include details of births, marriages and deaths registered in England and Wales: there are separate civil registration systems in Scotland, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. For information on these see Genuki