Best (cheapest) site to sign up to to view birth/death certificates?

[bintofbohemia]

I want to see my grandfather's birth certificate so I can see when we was born, but mainly to get an clue re his father and details of where/when he was born. (Not sure if he was born here or in Ireland and hoping birth cert will help?)

From what I can see:

• Genes reunited is a rip off and credits only valid for a week (pay per view, can't afford a subscription)

• Ancestry is similar pricewise

• Findmypast seems slightly cheaper.

Can get 25% cashback on Quidco with Genes and Ancestry.

Really I just need a few credits for a browse.

I don't need to actually buy the birth certificates to get all the info do I?

Thanks in advance for any help!

If you want to do more than just your Grandfather, definitely Ancestry, on subscription, you can see has many certs/censuses as you like then.

I have used it for 5 years and it is by far the cheapest way to do it.

Thanks shoshe. Will go and have a really good look.

To get the actual birth certificate, you need to order it from the GRO and it costs about £9 per certificate. The birth indexes on Ancestry/Find My Past will give you the quarter the birth was registered in, year and district. Births post-1916 (I think) usually give the mother's maiden name as well.

If your grandfather was born in England or Wales the birth certificate will give the father's name and occupation. Only birth certs from the late 1960s onwards give the father's place of birth so may not be very helpful. Do you mind saying when/where your grandfather was born so I can suggest other options?

You will need to get the actual birth certificate if you want to see

• parents' names and occupations
• exact date of birth
• exact place of birth

The actual certificates cost £9.25 from the GRO here -- don't use the "buy a certificate" links from the other sites as generally they whack on a commission on top.

If you are looking for England and Wales registrations, try Ancestry or FreeBMD (FreeBMD is, as the name suggests, free, but hasn't finished indexing everything yet. In general they have most indexes transcribed and searchable up to about 1930, the majority but by no means all indexes transcribed for the 1930s, and then very patchy coverage of the 1940s.

Your grandfather's birth certificate won't tell you where his father was born. Your best bet may be to try to find your great-grandfather in the 1911 census here or in Ireland. Do you know when your great-grandfather was born? If not, then if you can find his marriage certificate then that will normally give you an age that you can use to filter your census search results.

I have subscriptions to a lot of sites (inc Ancestry, FindMyPast (includes 1911 census) and TheGenealogist) and would be happy to do lookups for you if you wanted ([email protected])