Genealogy Sources

BMD Index Tips


Strategy to Follow

  1. Gather as much information as possible about a person before you look.
  2. If you are prone to absent-mindedness, it can help to make a note of the index and quarters you have checked during your search in case you are interrupted, or suffer a case of ‘index brain’ – where you can’t remember where your search started or where it has got to.
  3. Some files are under repair. Make a note of any that affect your search and come back to them later.
  4. Remember that someone might not have been registered until weeks after they were born or died, so their name may not be in the same quarter as their precise date of birth/death.
  5. As soon as you find the person you are looking for, note down clearly: the quarter and year of the file, for example, June 1912; their full name, for example, Dixon Carmichael; their place of birth/marriage/death, for example, Leeds; the volume reference, for example, 9a; and finally, the page number, for example, 412.
  6. If the surname is a common one, you may find more than one candidate in a file. In this case, the district of birth may help you to single out the person you want. Ask the staff or consult the maps on the wall to discover the volume numbers for different parts of the country. The current volume number for Leeds for example, is 9a.
  7. Early volumes are handwritten and often difficult to read. Consult a member of staff or, if you are bold, a fellow researcher.
  8. If you are looking for when a person was married, but don’t know the year, work backwards from when they had their first child, year by year until you find the date of the marriage. Just hope the details you have aren’t for the last child of 17!
  9. To confirm you have the correct marriage in indexes for before 1912 – when the names of both spouses were first recorded – note down the district name, reference number and page, then look for the husband’s or wife’s name elsewhere in the index (the bride will be entered under her maiden name) and confirm it is the same.
  10. Be aware that the spelling of names changes over time.


Sometimes you Cannot Find the Right Person in the Index

Failing to find a name that ought to be in the indexes? Here are some possible reasons why your search isn’t throwing up the person you are looking for.

  1. A family member may insist that an ancestor came from one part of the county when they were in fact born and raised in another. Keep an open mind and be prepared to accept that what you have been told may be wrong.
  2. The person you are searching for might have been born in hospital. This could have been situated in a district different from the one in which they lived.
  3. Clerical error. Civil registration records are as prone to mistakes as other sources: the person’s name could have been spelt wrongly or their age misheard.
  4. Human nature. Perhaps due to mistrust of authority, or for a variety of other reasons, some people simply avoided being registered or gave false information to the registrar.