Printable version. You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader which you can download FREE from Adobe's website (link opens in a new window).

The Newsletter of the Family Records Centre (FRC)
Issue 26 Spring 2004 (13th online edition)

Closure Dates

Monday 3 May (May Day Bank Holiday)
Monday 31 May (Spring Bank Holiday)
Monday 30 August (August Bank Holiday)
Friday 24 December to Tuesday 28 December (Christmas)

Saturday 1 January to Monday 3 January 2005 (New Year)

Local History Month

The Family Records Centre has joined together with the London Metropolitan Archives and Islington Local History Centre to celebrate Local History Month in May 2004. A free exhibition, focussing on the history of Myddelton Street, Clerkenwell and the surrounding area will be on show in the Display Area on the first floor from 4 May.

We have also arranged a series of talks with a local history theme.

• 4 May - It's The Business! Exploring Local History Through Business Records
• 11 May - Your House & Home In The Local Community
• 18 May - Mr Muggeridge's Migrants: Migration in Victorian England
• 25 May - London's Secret Village: a Guided Walk

Tickets are free and will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis from the New Customers Desk on the first floor. There is no advance booking.

The talks take place in the Meetings Room at 2pm and last for approximately one hour. However, on 25 May we are offering you something a little bit different. Following a short introductory talk, qualified London tour guide, Jean Haynes, will take you on a guided tour of Clerkenwell's historic streets, returning you to the FRC at around 4pm.

Disabled Access to the FRC

The Family Records Centre strives to ensure that all disabled customers have facilities in which to undertake their research in a comfortable and user-friendly manner. There is a ramp leading to the entrance of the building and lift access to all floors. Limited reserved parking is available for customers with disabilities but spaces must be booked in advance by phoning 0207 533 6436 during office hours. Staff at the FRC will require customers to show their disabled badge or photograph on arrival.

There are six microfiche readers in the Public Search Room on the ground floor set aside for customers who have difficulty in using the index books. There is also a computerised index from 1984 to 1993. We are currently updating this index to include more recent years. On the first floor we have six motorised microfilm readers reserved for customers who have disabilities or other special needs.

Staff in all areas will be happy to provide advice on the facilities and assist customers when required.

We're Talking To You

Another round of talks has been arranged for the summer months. In addition to the Local History talks listed above, the following dates have been confirmed:

• 8 June - Tracing Your Ancestors at the FRC
• 15 June - The Life and Crime of Dr Crippen
• 29 June - Secrets of the FRC
• 6 July - Hyde Park Family History Centre
• 13 July - Parish Registers: their contents & history
• 20 July - 1901 Census Online

21 May is Silver Surfers' Day

We are pleased to announce the FRC's participation in this year's Silver Surfers' Day. This national event is aimed at helping older people to use and understand computer technology. If you've ever wondered exactly what's available for family historians on the Internet but have always been too afraid to ask, this is your chance to find out. All our older customers are invited to attend informal hands-on sessions in the Display Area on the first floor on Friday 21 May.

February 2004 Customer Survey

A big thank you to all those who took part in our Customer Survey in February. As always, we have used the results of the survey to get a better understanding of how visitors to the FRC use the services we offer. We learned for example that over 20% of our visitors spend more than five hours in the Centre and that nearly 40% of you have been visiting the FRC (or its predecessors) for more than seven years. We were also delighted to know that over 97% consider the overall service we offer to be 'Good' or 'Excellent'. The full results of the survey can be viewed on our website.

Dr Crippen at the FRC

An exhibition featuring Dr Crippen is currently on display on the first floor of the FRC. The display uses documents held by the FRC and other archives to tell the story of Crippen's early life in America, leading up to his trial and execution for murder in 1910. A free talk on 'The Life and Crime of Dr Crippen' will take place on 15 June.

DocumentsOnline

The collection of records available on The National Archives DocumentsOnline website continues to grow. The original wills of more than one hundred famous Englishmen and women have now been uploaded, including those for William Shakespeare, Horatio Nelson, William Wordsworth and Jane Austen.

The first batches of index cards to the World War One Medal Rolls are also available, covering soldiers with surnames starting with the letters 'A' to 'H'.

Open Meeting

The next FRC Open Meeting will take place in the Meetings Room on the first floor on Tuesday 11 May at 5pm. All customers are invited to come along and ask the FRC's managers about our current and future services. Free refreshments will be available.

Online Resources at the FRC

We have expanded the range of resources available on the computers in Area A on the first floor. Until recently, these PCs only allowed access to the 1901 Census Online. Now you can get the 1901 Census Online and much, much more.

You can access DocumentsOnline, which is free to use onsite (as a pilot project) or you can spend time looking at the Moving Here project or visiting the Education Section to learn more about history through Pathways to the Past. Then there is The National Archives' main website which includes major databases such as the Hospital Records Database, Access to Archives and the National Register of Archives. You will also find direct links to many family history websites and a search engine so that you can find anything on the internet for yourself (apart from the usual undesirable sites).

In fact, the only thing you can't do on these computers is use email. If you do want to send an email, you can use one of the computers situated in the Display Area. The computers located near the main Enquiry Desk, which contain our Family History Databases, are now available solely for this purpose and no longer access the internet.

New Census Indexes on CD

We have received a number of new census surname indexes on CD. There are county wide indexes for Suffolk 1851, Staffordshire 1851, Leicestershire and Rutland 1851 & 1891, and Cambridge & Isle of Ely 1841 & 1851. These can all be searched on computer D18.

Trade Directories

Customers often ask if we have any trade directories, and the answer is an emphatic 'yes'. In addition to the collection of over 400 scanned directories available on the Database Computers, we have now put on open access more than 70 directories on microfiche. They can be found in the Surname Index Area.

Another collection of more than 300 historical directories can be accessed via our Online Resources PCs and on the internet at: www.historicaldirectories.org/

New Books in the Reference Area

Recent acquisitions include Libraries and Information Services in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland 2004; An Index of London Schools and Their Records; An Index of London Hospitals and Their Records; An Index of English Country Houses. We also continue to obtain new editions of existing titles as they appear, the most recent being the 2004 edition of the Family and Local History Handbook, and the latest TNA publication, a revised edition of Maps for Family and Local History.

News From The GRO, Southport

Modernising Civil Registration

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Ruth Kelly, has recently announced that proposals to modernise civil registration will be presented to Parliament this summer. The Minister's announcement follows the publication last summer of the consultation paper "Civil Registration: Delivering Vital Change", to which almost 3,500 responses were received.

Using powers under the Regulatory Reform Act 2001, FST plans to introduce two Orders, the first covering births and deaths, and the second, marriages. The first Order will be presented to Parliament before the summer recess and will:

• enable members of the public to register births and deaths online, in person and by telephone.
• allow people to use any register office to give information for the registration of births and deaths.
• give responsibility for the delivery of face-to-face services to local authorities.
• provide new arrangements for access to births and deaths registration information.

The second Order, to be presented early in the 2004/5 Session of Parliament, will cover the proposed changes to marriage law.

The parliamentary process for each Order is likely to take about 12 months. That being the case, it should be possible to start implementing the changes next year, such as making information available electronically to other Government Departments. Implementation of the remaining changes will be phased over the following couple of years.

For more information, please contact Tom Walker, the Registration Modernisation Communications Manager at tom.walker@ons.gov.uk

Certificate Services Performance Targets

Demand for certificates continued to rise throughout 2003/2004. The table below shows forecatsed receipts against the actual applications received over the period April 2003 - March 2004.

In total, over 1,190,000 applications were received by the General Register Office, either via the Family Records Centre, direct to Southport or via the web based on-line ordering system, which was launched in July 2003. This is an increase of over 240,000 applications on the previous year.

Overall, published targets were met in 70% of applications. Although this is disappointing, it is due to the high level of applications received in January, February and March. The table below details a breakdown in our performance over the year in three of the key areas monitored.

Plans to deal with the high level of applications have already been put in place. These include the purchase of new scanning equipment and the recruitment and training of a new team that will be working through the night at Southport.

The 'Night Owl' shift will operate from 9pm until 6am, Monday to Thursday, and the staff will concentrate solely on the production of certificates.

Certificates for Recent Events

A number of customers have asked whether they can get copies of certificates for recent births, marriages and deaths from the FRC or whether they need to apply to the local register office.

The process of receiving copies from the local register offices, microfilming them and producing indexes usually takes up to eighteen months. The microfilmed tapes that are currently available contain events registered up to the following quarters: Births & Deaths, March 2003, Marriages, December 2002.

Ordering Death Certificates Online

The current means of applying for death certificates online requires that if the death took place within the last 50 years, regardless of the age of the deceased, the applicant is required to fill in certain mandatory fields, for example, date of death.

The GRO recognises the inconvenience that this can cause to genuine customers wishing to make an application online and a request for change has been made to the development team to amend this particular mandatory field. It is proposed that a date of death will only be mandatory if the event took place within the last 50 years and the deceased was 16 or under at the time of death. This amendment will take place once further tests have been completed.

News From TNA, Kew

Naturalization Records on PROCAT

The National Archives Online Catalogue (PROCAT) provides access to a wealth of information about the resources available at Kew. As part of the Citizenship Project, the descriptions from the printed indexes to records of naturalization from 1844 to 1935 have been uploaded onto PROCAT. This enables users to search by full name of applicant (and alias), nationality, certificate number, date of certificate, and (for cases after 1878, place of residence). A successful search will identify the full document reference for the background papers which can reveal fascinating facts about our immigrant ancestors and their early years in this country.

Family History Week at Kew

Saturday 8 - Friday 14 May (not Sunday)

Discovering your family history is a challenging but rewarding pastime and knowing where to start can be difficult. Throughout the week, experts from The National Archives and the Family Records Centre will be giving talks and workshops on how to go about tracing your roots.

Events include introductions to family history research, a chance to meet the experts, sessions on using online services, including the 1901 census and wills online, discovering your house history and how to conserve old photos. There will also be behind the scenes tours of the repositories.

All events are free but numbers are limited and you must phone 020 8876 3444 to reserve a place on any event.

For full details of events and times, please visit the TNA website at: www.pro.gov.uk/events/events_exhibitions/family_history.htm

Journeys in Family History by David Hey

The Journey starts here! Whether you are starting out on your ancestral search or seeking fresh genealogical avenues, this lavish new book written by David Hey - a leading name in the field - offers a wealth of reliable advice covering the repositories, the records, the research methods and more.

Priced £30.00, Journeys in Family History is available from all good bookshops, including the Family Records Centre and The National Archives at Kew, or by phoning Publications Marketing on 020 8392 5271.

Further information

If you would like more information about any of the items in this newsletter please telephone us on 0845 603 7788 (GRO enquiries) or 0208 392 5300 (TNA enquiries). You can also email us at:

frc@nationalarchives.gov.uk

To subscribe to the electronic version of the Family Record please send an email to:

FRC-Newsletter@nationalarchives.gov.uk

with the word 'Subscribe' in the subject heading.

The Family Record is jointly produced by the General Register Office (GRO) and The National Archives