Although registration was introduced in 1837 it was not made compulsory until 1875. Therefore you may not find the GRO Reference for your ancestor between 1837-1875

The GRO Indexes contain the information you’ll need when ordering a certificate, this is known as the GRO Reference.  This is the reference allocated to every birth, marriage or death registered in England or Wales.  The transcribed reference looks like this:

Name: Charles Harold Broadrick
Year of Registration: 1900
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
District: Devonport
County: Devon
Volume: 5b
Page: 300

The indexes are in quarterly format as below:

• March Quarter – events registered in January, February and March
• June Quarter – events registered in April, May and June
• September Quarter – events registered in July, August and September
• December Quarter – events registered in October, November and December

Therefore, although your ancestor may have been born in March, it may not be recorded until the June Quarter.

Once you have this reference you can order a copy of a Birth/Marriage/Death certificate online from the Office of National Statistics for 7 UK Pounds.  You must be very accurate when ordering, therefore I will supply a copy of the *ORIGINAL* page so that you can double check that the entry has been correctly transcribed.

The amount of detail contained in certificate's depends on the type and date:

Birth Certificate: 

1. Date and Place of Birth, ( in earlier records this may just be "High Street" or similar, but by about the 1880's the full address is usually given)
2. The persons full registered name,
3. The sex of the person
4. The name and surname of Father (this is sometimes missing if the baby is illegitimate.
5. The first and surname of the Mother and her Maiden Surname (sometimes missing in early records)
6. The occupation of the Father
7. The name, description and residence of the person registering the birth. (Usually the Mother)
8. The date the birth was registered.
9. The name of the Registrar
10. The registration district, the sub-registration district and the County

Marriage Certificate:

1. Date and place of Marriage and the district and county.
2. Name and Surname of the bride and groom.
3. The ages of the bride and groom. (sometimes entered as "over 21" or "of full age")
4. The condition of the bride and groom. i.e. Bachelor/Spinster
5. The occupations of the bride and groom.
6. The residence of the bride and groom at the time of the marriage.
7. The name and occupation of the bride and grooms Father's (sometime entered as "deceased".
8. The church where the persons were married. Some entered as "Said Church"
9. The type of service. i.e. "according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church", or "Established Church after Banns"
10. The name of the Person officiating at the marriage (Name of Vicar, Priest, etc)
11. The names of the 2 witnesses to the marriage.
12. After 1911, the brides maiden name and if previous divorced, her previous married name.

Death Certificate:

1. The date and place of death.
2. The persons name
3.The persons sex
4. The persons occupation at time of death (if a female, sometimes her husbands name and occupation)
5. The cause of death
6. The name and residence of the person registering the death.
7. The date the death was registered.
8. The name of the Registrar
9. In later records, the Occupation and usual address of the deceased.
10. From March 1866, the age at death