Births, deaths, marriages and civil partnership historical searches

Please tell us what you think about our website, we welcome your feedback.

The service holds the registers relating to Wiltshire District. The service also hold registers for both civil marriages and non-conformist chapels, Church of England, meeting houses, Jewish marriages and other religious buildings where marriages have taken place.

The usual way of proceeding is to go backwards from a birth registration to the marriage of the parents. The marriage entry will then lead you to a year of birth and will also give the father's name and occupation which will then enable you to locate another entry.

If you are unable to state where an event took place you may consult the Registrar General's Index (was St. Catherine's House Index). This is an index of every birth, marriage and death which has occurred throughout England and Wales since registration began.  An entry there would indicate the district, year and quarter of the year in which the event occurred.

You will then need to write directly to the registration service to obtain the certificate. You should, however, bear in mind that the Registrar General references and the local registration service references do not tie up and therefore always accompany such an application with as much additional information as possible.

When trying to locate a marriage entry on the index, you should always remember to cross-reference both names of the parties married to be certain that you have located the correct entry. There are only two places in the country where the Index is totally up to date and that is at The Family Record Centre, 1 Myddelton Street, London, EC1R 1UW and the General Register Office in Southport. After that, many libraries have bought sections of the index and the access point nearest to your home may be obtained by enquiry at your local library.

Whilst the Registration Service wishes to be helpful, our search facilities are limited. We therefore appreciate it if the informant can give as much information as possible. However, we do have to limit any search to two years either side of the date given.

You could also visit the Wiltshire BMD site which is easily accessible by the public and allows them to look at the indexes of births, marriages and deaths in Wiltshire from 1837 to the current day. This is an ongoing project and some births and deaths will not yet be loaded but it is hoped that the indexes of all Wiltshire marriages will be complete by the end of 2010.

What you will need

When applying to the Registration Service, c/o Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, each application should be accompanied by a stamped self addressed envelope. The application needs to provide the following information:

• Date of the birth;
• Name at birth;
• Parents' names at birth;
• Where the birth took place.
• Full name of the deceased;
• Date of death;
• Where the death occurred.
• Date of marriage;
• Actual church or place of marriage;
• Full names of the couple including the woman's maiden name.
• All events are indexed by place, date and name.

You will need to complete an application form available from the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre or any registration office, or send a letter giving the details. If the entry is traced, the information can only be supplied in the form of a certificate.

Costs / Payment

Please see the registration fees page for details of current charges. Applications should be accompanied with a cheque payable to Wiltshire Council. If the entry is not found a full refund is made.

Related information

• Registration service office locations and opening times

Related links

• Wiltshire BMD - Births, Marriages and Deaths online

Last updated: 4 January 2012