Ordering certificates

If the birth, death or marriage occurred in Milton Keynes the Milton Keynes Register Office will  hold a record and copy certificates can be purchased from them.

If you need a certificate from elsewhere (for an event that didn't occur in Milton Keynes), you can contact the General Register Office.

Online access to the GRO Indexes for England and Wales

• FreeBMD - a fully searchable, free database for English and Welsh records covering 1837 to the 1983s.  As yet it is far from complete, but it can be a useful tool.
• FindMyPast.co.uk - a pay per view database providing access to all birth, marriage and death indexes for England and Wales from 1837 to 2005.
• Ancestry - a subscription website offering a database of all birth, marriage and death indexes for England and Wales from 1837 to 2004. This database can be searched for FREE at all libraries in Milton Keynes.

Scottish records

The Scotland's People website is a partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland and Scotland Online. A fully searchable index of Scottish births from 1855 to 1903, marriages from 1855 to 1928 and deaths from 1855 to 1953 is available, though there is a charge for viewing the records.

Irish records

Tracing forebears in Ireland can be trickier than in England, Scotland and Wales, as many Irish records (including the 19th century censuses) no longer exist, however there are more records on Ancestry.co.uk now.

A good starting point for advice on researching your Irish ancestors is to contact the Irish Genealogical Society International.

It is also worth checking the International Genealogical Index (IGI) which contains information from those few Irish parish registers that remain.

Overseas births, marriages and deaths

The GRO overseas indexes for births, marriages and deaths of UK citizens can be viewed on microfiche in the local studies and family history department at Central Library.

These indexes contain war deaths, regimental records, marine and air records as well as births, deaths and marriages recorded by HM Forces, British Consuls and High Commissions around the world.

Milton Keynes cemetery records

Milton Keynes cemetery records are kept at Crownhill crematorium. Further information is available on the burial searches webpage.