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There are many
other repositories in London and it is very easy to confuse some
with the others. The General Register Office (GRO) records
of civil births, deaths and marriages from 1837 are not held primarily
at the PRO but at the offices of the ONS - Office for National
Statistics, the umbrella under which the GRO is now housed.
This is centred at Southport in Lancashire but comprehensive registers
are also held by the ONS on the ground floor of Myddleton House,
Myddleton St. Islington in North London. Fiche copies can also be
found at various other record centres in the Kingdom and are also
accessible at the PRO.
Unlike the ground
floor, the upper floor of Myddleton House is managed by TNA. This
houses the various censuses which run from 1841 to 1891 and Prerogative
Court of Canterbury (PCC) wills up to 1858 (but not the Prerogative
Court of York [PCY] wills which are housed at the Borthwick Institute
at York). It also has an excellent computer section where researchers
may consult the IGI, US Social Security Index and Ancestral files
and other excellent related material sourced by the Church of Latter
Day Saints (LDS). The latest census released is that of 1901 which
went on line in January 2002. The original census enumerations have
been digitised and can be accessed via an electronic index.
The whole of
Myddleton House is simply referred to as the Family Record Centre
(FRC). It has become a very popular research location with upwards
of some thousands of visitors a day at peak times. It is an excellent
starting point for visits to other centres. A few paces away from
Myddleton House is the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA)
which houses records of Metropolitan, or Greater, London. 10 minutes
further on is the Society of Genealogists and its Library (SoG).
Yet another 10 minutes away is the Guildhall Library which
is home to the parish records of the City of London whilst the Corporation
of London Record Office keeping the records of the City is just
around the other side of the building in Basinghall Street.
The Principal
Probate Registry at New Avenue House in High Holborn holds registers
of wills and administrations from 1858 and is about a mile in the
other direction. A short train or bus ride will also take researchers
from the FRC to the British Library in Euston Road. This
award winning building also houses the superb Oriental and India
Office Collections which holds the records of British India.
An exceptional library of oriental material can be found there.
Visit my Links
Page for the addresses of these and other repositories.
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