Welcome to the Register Office Web Pages
You will find on this site information about our Register Offices and out stations and also how to arrange a marriage, or civil partnership or register a birth, death or stillbirth.
Should you require information about such things as The Adopted Children Register, The Abandoned Children Register, the Thomas Coram Register, Gender Recognition Register or the registration of overseas birth and deaths etc you should go to The General Register Office website. The information on this website applies to all England and Wales and the address is www.statistics.gov.uk/nsbase/registration
In addition to our present day involvement in the registration of births, deaths and marriages, our Register Offices hold the records for our own districts back to the commencement of civil registration in 1837. We issue birth, death and marriage certificates from these records for whatever reason they are required. People require modern day certificates to enable them to apply for passports and driving licences etc whilst the older certificates tend to be for family history purposes.
Copy certificates can be applied for in three different ways:
- You can call in at the appropriate Register Office, complete an application form and pay the fee required. We will advise you how long it will take to prepare the certificate for you. We aim to issue certificates in one hour with the exception of family history certificates.
- You can write to the appropriate Register Office, giving as much detail as you can about the certificate you require and enclose a stamped-addressed envelope and a cheque or postal order for the fee (payable to Bradford Council) and the certificate will be posted back to you.
- You can telephone and give the information to a member of our staff who will complete the form on your behalf. You will then be asked for a debit or credit card number and other relevant details from the card. The certificate will then be posted out to you by First Class post. This service is subject to a £1 handling fee per certificate. You will be advised when it is anticipated that it will be posted.
Currently the fee for a standard certificate is £7.00. There is a short form of birth certificate available at a fee of £5.50 (this does not show parents' details). If you are applying for a certificate for a very recent event the fee will be £3.50. The Register Office staff will be able to confirm which fee you should send if you are in any doubt.
Inclusive in the £7.00 fee is one five-year search, i.e. the year you specify and the two before and the two after. However, a search would be made of any particular five-year period stated by the applicant but it must be borne in mind that the register office staff can only undertake one such five-year search per registration event. As all records are kept by date, it is most important that you be as accurate as you can.
If you are unable to state where or when an event took place you may consult the Family Records Centre index. This is an index of every birth, marriage and death, which has occurred throughout England and Wales since registration began and an entry found there would indicate the district, year and quarter of that year in which the event occurred. You can then write directly to the Register Office concerned to obtain the certificate. You should however bear in mind that the Family Records Centre index (otherwise known as St Catherine's index) references and the local register office references do not tie up and you should always accompany such an application with as much back-up information as you have.
When trying to locate a marriage entry on the index, you should always remember to cross reference both names to be certain that you have located the correct entry. The index is held at many libraries and the access point nearest to your home may be obtained by enquiring at your local library.
If you are fairly sure that an event occurred in Bradford or Keighley you can make a general search of our indices. The cost for this is £18.00 for six hours consecutive searching of the indices only. If you find an entry in which you think you may be interested a member of staff will look at the register and attempt to determine from the information you give if this is the correct entry. If it is decided that it is the correct entry you can then purchase a certificate. You are not able yourself to look at any entries in our registers or take information from them, other than by purchasing a certificate. You can search the indices for as many years as you wish within the time available.
Whether you wish to do a general search at either Bradford or Keighley Register Offices, you would need an appointment, therefore please call in or telephone the offices in advance.
