Search Overseas records 1995-2005
Last names
If you are looking for a last name which usually contains a space character, a hyphen or an apostrophe, then you can enter the search name with or without the additional characters. For example, if you want to search for the last name 'MC CARTNEY' you can enter either 'MCCARTNEY' or 'MC CARTNEY'. In either case, entries with last names of both 'MC CARTNEY' and 'MCCARTNEY' will be returned.
Wildcards
You must enter either a full last name or first name. However if you are unsure how a name is spelt or can\"t
find it with the usual spelling, try using a wild card in one or other of the first name or last name.
For example, if you search for William Harris and you type in William Harr*, the search will return a list
of results that includes names such as William Harris, William Harrison and William Harris-Burland.
The wildcard is denoted by a * and can be used in both the first name, middle name and last name search fields.
If you enter an initial for the first name or middle name, this will find entries with a matching initial letter. For example, if you search for P Smith, the search will return a list that includes Peter Smith, Paul Smith and Patrick Smith.
Understanding your search results
About these indexes
The primary purpose of these indexes is to allow you to search for the births, marriages and deaths of British
subjects overseas and to obtain the necessary reference information to apply for a certificate from the General
Register Office. Once you have found an entry which interests you, you can order a copy certificate online by
visiting www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates. You should also read the information at www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/research/searchingforoverseasrecords.
Please note that it has never been compulsory for the birth, marriage or death of a British subject to be registered
with the British authorities overseas, and therefore these official General Register Office (GRO) indexes cover only
those records where the appropriate authorities have been informed. Many events relating to the British overseas
are registered solely within the local registers for the foreign territory in question (and from which they would
need to be obtained). However, coverage of events relating to the service personnel of the British Forces overseas
ought to be compete.
In recent years, there has been a very significant increase in the number of British subjects, not being resident overseas, who travel abroad expressly to marry. Although we know of no reliable statistics, it has been suggested that by 2002 an estimated 10% of the marriages of British subjects (which would equate to between 20,000 and 30,000 marriages per year) were taking place overseas. However, as mentioned above, by no means all overseas marriages are registered with the British authorities and many such marriages will feature only in the local registers of the foreign country. This is reflected in the fact that for the period 1995 to 2002 we have a total in the order of 6,500 marriages, suggesting either that the great majority go unrecorded and/or that the estimate of marriages overseas has been significantly over-estimated.
Coverage
The datasets cover registrations within the years 1995 to 2005.
However, in the case of births, there are many events which took place before these years but were not registered
with the British authorities at the time. In fact, the earliest birth dates back to 1921 and there are births for
just about every year between then and 1994, with the number increasing markedly in the mid-1970s. It is therefore
worth searching these birth indexes for an overseas birth which you cannot find elsewhere even if it took place
before 1995.
Year
"Year" may refer to year of event (such as a birth), or year of registration of the event. An event and its
registration do not always take place in the same year. As our database is constructed from annual indexes, you may
see in the search results two entries that relate to one person where an event took place in one year and its
registration in another. For instance, if a person was born in 2000 but their birth was not registered until 2001,
the search results will show entries for both 2000 and for 2001. However, both index entries point to the same
certificate.
If you look at a page from the birth indexes, you will therefore almost certainly see years other than the actual
index year. For example, in a page from the 1995 birth index, you will see both:
- years later than 1995 (these are in brackets in the Page column, and refer to year of registration where it was after 1995)
- years earlier than 1995 (these are in the DOB - date of birth - column instead of a month value, and refer to year of birth where it was before 1995)
In the death indexes, where the years of death and of registration of death are different, the year of registration is shown in brackets in the Page column. For example, on a page of the death index from 1996, you may see (1997) and (2002) in the Page column, indicating that, although these deaths all took place in 1996, those in question were not actually registered with the British overseas mission until 1997 and 2002 respectively.
An error in the original death indexes
Please note that there is an error in the form used in the original death indexes. The header of the second column on each page is mistakenly called "Date of death or age". In fact, this should read "date of birth or age".
Place of registration
The original indexes give a "post name" as the place of registration. A post is the British diplomatic mission
overseas at which the event of birth, marriage or death was registered. Most but not all of the post names are
capital or other cities, as these are the locations of British embassies, high commissions, consulates and so on.
We have assigned each such post a matching country, for ease of research. For example, you may know that a British
person died in France but not know if the death was registered in Paris, Marseille or elsewhere. You can see at a
glance in the free search results all entries of registration in France and do not need to know the specific place of
death within the country. In foreign countries with which we may be less familiar, it also means that you do not need
to know where a particular post is located: for instance, you may not know where Izmir is, but the search results
have already told you that you are looking at a result from Turkey.
For details of places with current British diplomatic missions, go to www.fco.gov.uk.
Please note that the current Foreign & Commonwealth Office webpage may omit details of any former missions which were
in existence at some date between 1995 and 2002 but have been closed since.
There are, however, other "post names" which are not place names. The most frequently occurring in the indexes are the following:
- BF Cyprus = British Forces Cyprus
- Civil Air = births, plus natural, accidental and other deaths, in the air (other than Royal Air Force)
- Shipping = births, plus natural, accidental and other deaths, at sea (other than Royal Navy)
- UKSC (G) = UK Support Command (Germany)
Type
The original indexes have a reference field called "type". The abbreviations used in this field show the type of overseas record involved. The most commonly encountered abbreviations are as follows:
- A = Air - excludes Royal Air Force
- A7 = Article 7 marriages
- C = Consular
- C/HC = Consulate / High Commission
- F = Forces - British armed forces - Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy
- S = Shipping - excludes Royal Navy
For more on Article 7 marriages, please see here.
Price
It costs 1 unit to view both a transcription of an entry and the corresponding image. We recommend that you always
check the image: it does not cost you any more to do so, it enables you to double-check the accuracy of the
transcription (for instance, if applying for a copy certificate) and it means that you see any additional entries for
the same surname on the same page of the original index.
Once you have viewed a transcription or an image, you will not be charged to view it again within your session.