Once you determine which vital records you still need, there are several methods to obtain copies. First, by writing or emailing the governmental agencies for a copy is best. For the United Kingdom, the General Register Office (GRO) is the storehouse of records. Checking their web site will provide contact information along with any fees to acquire copies. You can order a certificate online, by telephone or by writing a letter to the General Register Office or the local register office where the event took place.

The GRO is the national archive for records of all births, marriages and deaths since 1837, as well as adoptions from 1927 and civil partnerships from 2005 within England and Wales. They provide adoption information for locating birth parents. There is also a General Register Office for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The GRO does require an index reference number or close to an exact date of the event. The index reference number consists of the year, volume number, page number and district in which the event was registered. The very earliest registration is for the September quarter for the months of June, July and September in 1837. If a birth, marriage or death occurred prior to those months in 1837, it will not be in the GRO.

To assist in locating an approximate date for an event in England or Wales, there is the online site ‘Free BMD.’ It has the index number with the district, volume and page numbers along with the year with which quarter. The FreeBMD site contains over 241 million records starting in 1837.

There are additional sites for acquiring the index reference number, such as Ancestry.co.uk and BMD Index.co.uk, which would require a small fee for usage.