Catalogue description General Register Office: Miscellaneous Foreign Returns

The series contains largely non-statutory records relating to births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials abroad, and on British as well as foreign ships, of British subjects, nationals of the colonies, the Commonwealth and countries under British jurisdiction. Events affecting some foreign nationals are also included. Records consist mainly of certificates issued by foreign registration authorities, which are in local languages, and copies of entries kept by incumbents of English churches and missions, chaplains and burial authorities. It also contains documents sent by individuals to the Registrar General.

For the Second World War period some notifications of deaths of members of the services, prisoners of war, civilians, internees and deaths through aircraft lost in flight are included. Notifications of some post-war deaths of civilians in mining service are preserved. There is also material relating to the Channel Islands and a return for births on Lundy Island (Devon).

Electronic images of these records can be searched online through our partner website (excluding pieces 52-59).

There are also considerable numbers of other sources of births, marriages and deaths of Britons overseas which are held in other record repositories; in particular the Guildhall and the Society of Genealogists.

Duplicate registers retained by consulates are held in Foreign Office, Division within FO

The records are indexed in RG 43

General Register Office, 1836-1970

from 2001: Office for National Statistics

from 1977: General Register Office

Additional information is also available in Geoffrey Yeo, 'The British Overseas, A Guide to Records of Their Births, Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths and Burials Available in the United Kingdom', London, 2nd edn, 1988