Citing PDF image copies of England GRO birth and death registrations

By cms on Wed, 05/01/2024 - 14:27

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I recently took advantage of the cost savings by ordering PDF rather than certified copies of birth and death registrations from the UK General Register Office. How do I cite them?

This is my attempt to use the 3-layer system: What I saw--a digital image of a birth entry on the UK Passport website; Where it came from--the General Register Office; Where they got it--birth register from the Wirral Union registration district. Does this citation work?

England, General Register Office, registration of birth, entry for Joseph Wheeler Smith, born Birkenhead, 8 September 1847, digital image; imaged at “General Register Office,” database with images, HM Passport Office (https://www.gro.gov.uk : accessed 30 April 2024); citing Wirral Union registration district, register of births, vol. 19, p. 302, 1847 September quarter, entry 99; PDF electronic and physical copies of the entry privately held by xyzzy, street address, city, state, zip code.

Submitted byEEon Wed, 05/01/2024 - 18:34

cms, is the document actually imaged at the site or does the site present a database entry, whose information you used to order the copy?

Submitted bytimelyConfusionon Sat, 02/22/2025 - 18:13

Hi cms

Here's where I got to for the pdf you uploaded:

Birth register entry for Arthur Theodore (boy), born 6 August 1857 in 63 Highgate, Aston, father: Joseph Wheeler Smith (auctioneer), mother: Mary Smith formerly Southall, informant: father, entry 86, registered 10 September 1857 by Joseph Rawlings registrar; digital image from England and Wales General Register Office, "GRO Online Index - Birth" General Register Office (GRO) (https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp?index=EW_Birth&Year=1857&Range=0&Surname=SMITH&MothersSurname=SOUTHALL&Forename1=ARTHUR&Forename2=THEODORE&Gender=M&Quarter=S&District=ASTON&Volume=06D&Page=220 : accessed 22 February 2025); citing Aston, England & Wales, register of births, July - September 1857, vol. 6D, p. 220 (centrally-held handwritten copy).

I didn't put General Register Office, etc at the start of the entry for two reasons: one, the entry itself was probably made by the Aston registry office and two, there's nothing we can really verify from the image because we can't even see the rest of the page never mind the front page. If it's the creator of the image itself that should go there then England and Wales General Register Office would probably be right. Given this lack of other info I think it's prudent to copy out the details, as they may help should the citation be inaccurate.
I didn't put in the child's surname because there isn't one in the entry, but since the contemporary index used the surname Smith, and particularly when both parents have that name, it's probably unnecessarily cautious.

I put the website down as General Register Office, even though it's part of the passport office, as that's how it identifies itself.

I've added (centrally-held handwritten copy) to signify that even then the image is not of the original register and that it was copied by hand, introducing risk of copy errors (central copy is mentioned on the login screen https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/login.asp).

But I wonder whether a database first approach would be clearer, like:

England and Wales General Register Office, "GRO Online Index - Birth" General Register Office (GRO) (https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp?index=EW_Birth&Year=1857&Range=0&Surname=SMITH&MothersSurname=SOUTHALL&Forename1=ARTHUR&Forename2=THEODORE&Gender=M&Quarter=S&District=ASTON&Volume=06D&Page=220 : accessed 22 February 2025), digital image of birth register entry for Arthur Theodore (boy), born 6 August 1857 in 63 Highgate, Aston, father: Joseph Wheeler Smith (auctioneer), mother: Mary Smith formerly Southall, informant: father, entry 86, registered 10 September 1857 by Joseph Rawlings registrar; from Aston, England & Wales, register of births, July - September 1857, vol. 6D, p. 220 (centrally-held handwritten copy).

The only thing I don't like about that is it isn't clear that it's the index that is claiming the entry is "from" Aston register of births and that can't be verified from the image.