Death Records

[madham]

Is it possible to either access a death certificate or an electoral register for a London borough or alternatively a search engine for lost relatives in the UK. My gran died but I am hoping to trace relatives...

[Ewood27]

Are there no relatives you can ask? Your parents perhaps, or aunts/uncles? That's likely to be the quickest and easiest route to find out who you are looking for.

It is certainly possible to obtain a copy of a death certificate for a relative, and I'm pretty sure electoral registers are "in the public domain" and can be searched by anyone with a genuine reason. You can't do these things on the Internet, though. I suggest you ask at your local library about the local Family History Society and ring the Secretary. He (she?) will gladly point you in the right direction without you having to join the Society.

There probably are search engines for lost relatives, but I wouldn't place too much faith in them. Success would depend on "your" people having placed their details without knowing anyone was looking for them!

I hope that helps. Good luck.

[hopalong]

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/ u need to pay though but have a look anyway

[mother25]

Have you registered with Friends reunited? They have another site called Genes Connected (I think!) and you can post info there and hope that someone you are trying to find will get in touch. It works well and is very successful, plus the annual fee is only about �5. You can also access the census and have a look for your relatives on that. You have to pay for it of course, but I don't think it's too expensive. Good luck with your search.

[maxi29]

If you live in London, you can go to the Family Records Office in Clerkenwell. They have the birth, death and marriage certificates of everyone since 1837 (or thereabouts, can't remember the exact date). I've used it to dig up birth certificates for my grandfather and great-grandfather.

If she was alive in 1901, you could check out the census online, that would tell you who was in the house with her at that time. You can find it on http://www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk/