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Warks County Council had a brilliant free,searchable, online, BMD database, both sides of my family had entries going back to the mid 1700's
NOW theyve handed it all to Ancestry.org or .com whatever and its £12 a month or £90 a year to join
Rob Dogs
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You could search the database for free? Is that just indexes or could you get details from the Birth, Marriage and Death records? I am a Registrar myself, working just (and I mean just) over the border in Scotland :).
it had a very good FREE online search for BMD's in marriages it gave spouse name and i think for women it gave maiden names
obviously another case of greed over need
ask at your local library-they may be licensed to use Ancestry on the public computers-its free
indiagold
Always keep an open mind about things; But make sure your brain doesn't fall out.
we get a nice mobile library once a week, or its an eight mile drive each way....
Oh dear, and your right the www.ukbmd.org.uk doesn't have Warks on it.
indiagold
Always keep an open mind about things; But make sure your brain doesn't fall out.
So basically they have sold public records to ancestry?
i wonder if thats legal?
a record of my birth doesnt belong to WCC does it...am i entitled to a portion of whatever monies they are getting?
well they are public records and I guess local govt can do what they like with them
indiagold
Always keep an open mind about things; But make sure your brain doesn't fall out.
They are public records. Anyone could in theory purchase anybody's birth/death/marriage certificate if they want to. The local government would have been collecting the records on behalf of the Registrar General, not for themselves. The council would have a legal responsibility to provide registrars and suitable offices etc, but the records are GRO's, not theirs. So, it may be a case of 'why should we pay to run a free website?' Maybe shutting down the website was a money saving measure.
But its a legal requirement to register births/deaths/marriages
By even keeping a record and then making it public havent they broken the data protection act?
They are public records, but not free. The records are there for sale in the form of certificates and can be searched for a fee. I suspect though that the site only gave basic index information, not actual full record data, as they would not be allowed to give that away for free. I don't think Ancestry will have access to the actual records either, which will still be owned by the Registrar General's Office.