For the United Kingdom, their National Archives has a web site. Everything in their catalog can either be made as copies for a fee or is already in digital format for viewing on a computer. Documents go back hundreds of years and include about individuals, families, businesses, towns, factories and governments. This official government archive represents about a thousand years of history for England and Wales.

There are approximately 1 billion documents presently assessable on the Internet U.K. government archive. The ‘Documents Online’ section is the most popular. It allows the researcher to search and then download any of its available digitized records for a small fee. Once downloaded to your computer, you can then print a hard copy. Examine the ‘Browse’ section first to get an idea of the many different documents in categories are offered. In the ‘Documents Online’ some of the topics include Wills (some 1 million), Aliens Registration Cards (657 cards) and the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (over 7,000).

There is also the “A to Z” complete listing of documents in the archives. Here is an array of topics from citizenship, criminals, hospital records, navy records, schools to taxation records.

Several of the documents are available to downtown free of any fees. There is the Jamestown Settlement with its 400th anniversary, Army and Navy records, Workhouse Records, Deed Seals from the 12th to 18th century and the Battle of Towton documents.

The National Archives of the U. K. also has the lasting for the General Register Offices for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This is where copies of B-M-D certifications going back to 1837 can be acquired. Copies can be obtained online, by post, telephone order directly at the General Register Office (GRO). The fee for either the birth-marriage or death certificates is £9.25. Providing the GRO index reference information (date, location, volume and page) greatly assists getting the correct certificate.