GRO Indexes

[Bob Clayton]

I always understood that there exists one master GRO index and scans /films were sent out to CROs etc. How can an image used by Free BMD then differ from one on 1837 online? This is not a transcription error the, images are the same apart from an age difference on one entry, it is a typed one from 1907.
Any ideas?

Bob

[Bob Clayton]

Thanks for the comments. The images in question are both typed from 1907. However this is from PRO

From the PRO

Q. If errors are found in the GRO indexes are they corrected?
A. Yes they are, but it can be a lengthy process, as the error has to be checked and then both the Master and FRC copies corrected.

So the FRC should hold copies of the GRO ones.

In the example I have (from another forum) It is the 1837 one that is wrong. The Free BMD one is right and has been checked with the local registers.

The fiasco is even worse than we thought
Bob

[Bob Clayton]

What meant as well was it isn't a page missing, which is understandable. It is one entry that is differrent.

[David Sherriff]

I recently went to the Mitchell Library in Glasgow to view their films of the English Indexes. I found it very heavy going, and of course, the index entry for the birth of my G Grandfather was illegible! Free BMD also put a Question mark against the entry ( they must have been viewing the same version of the film).

However, when I checked with 1837, it was a different film with more detail, but still not quite enough. They have a facility to blow up the relevant area, and I was able to make an intelligent guess of the missing index. I now have his Birth Certificate.

Luckily, 50% of my research is in Scotland, where searching for BMD certificates is very easy. Just type in the full name and up comes the certificate on screen!!

[Mark]

There is also the complication that some of the original handwritten indices were copy-typed at some stage in the past ... and from what I've seen so far, the typists weren't 100% accurate.

If the original hamessage=There is also the complication that some of the original handwritten indices were copy-typed at some stage in the past ... and from what I've seen so far, the typists weren't 100% accurate.

If the original handwritten ones are available on film, as well as the copy-typed version, then you might get varying data.

Mark Hattam