Don’t Find My Past!

After registering at Find My Past, the official site for online English and Welsh records, they gave me 25 free units to try the site out. I had big expectations as I am a very pleased with the results and usability of Scotland’s People which is run by the same group Solid Bright (formerly Scotland Online). However after the trial I found that Find My Past may not to be the best way to invest your budget for initial research.

The site is has a more modern style than its Scottish sister site. It has a global search on the front page, a great little family tree generator and a wide of UK records.

There are various payment options such as vouchers bought at local libraries, pay-per-view and subsciptions. Used at the same rate of around 300 units per month these would work out at approximately 12, 9 and 3 pence per unit respectively. Whilst a subscription is obviously the best choice, this large varition reflects a flexibility of form of use and purchase.given the wide difference in needs and resources between researchers this an real benefit.

However basic research up to the year 1909 of Births, Marriages and Deaths (BMD) seems to be no more than can be found on FreeBMD, a free and user maintained version of the same. FreeBMD is an ongoing project so will eventually have all records transcribed.

What is most frustrating is that, unlike a Scottish online search, these records are not a complete record giving only area, date and name in brief. To find out parentage and other details English or Welsh certificates have to be purchased separately as a traditional paper copy from the General Registry Office (GRO). This is best achieved by supply what they call the GRO Reference which is the year, quarter, volume number and page for your entry. This can be obtained from both Find My Past and FreeBMD.

The prices for GRO certificate orders are not as you might expect in the Online Ordering FAQ but they are given in the Order Certificates section of the website under Fees. Ordering online saves you £1.50 such that a Full certificate obtained by supplying the GRO with a GRO index reference costs £7.00 rather than £8.50. If you are in real hurry you can use the Pripority service which costs an additional £16.00. If you do not have a GRO reference you will have to pay an extra £3.00.

So if you are starting out a £64.95 1 year Discovery subscription to Find My Past might be better invested in ordering 9 certificates from the GRO. Having said that remember that Find My Past will become increasingly useful as you near the present day and as your need to branch out and crosscheck increases over time. And it does have that very cute online Family Tree Explorer to help you document what you find!

PS. In addition to the guides and FAQs on the GRO site check out Babara Dixon’s guide for clear explanation of the GRO ordering process from a users perspective.