Copy Certificates
The Civil Registration of Birth, Deaths and Marriages commenced in 1837 and certified copies of entries may be purchased from that period onwards. Darlington Register Office only holds records of all Births, Deaths and Marriages which took place in the Darlington District which includes any local boundary changes at the time of the event.
Obtaining a Certificate
Copies of all entries recorded in the Darlington District can be purchased from Darlington Register Office either by using our on-line searching and payment facility, by post, or in person at the Register Office.
All Births, Deaths and Marriages for the Darlington District are indexed on our website, accessible through our on line searching facility or by contacting the office. We can only search for an entry two years either side of a year provided by yourself.
Please note that Entry References from other sources e.g. St. Catherine’s Indexes do not correlate to the numbering of our entries.
Certificates can be purchased by either:
Fees must be received by the Superintendent Registrar before certificates can be issued.
It is permissible for anyone to purchase copies of an entry, provided they can supply sufficient information for the entry to be identified and the Superintendent Registrar is satisfied with the reason for you obtaining the certificate.
Religious Marriages
Where marriages have taken place in a church or chapel the register will not be deposited at the Register Office until it is completed.
List of deposited registers - pdf document
If this is the case then further copies will need to be purchased from the incumbent (person at the church/chapel having custody of the register).
We strongly recommend that where you are trying to obtain a marriage entry which occurred in a church after 1980 please contact the Register Office to find out whether the register is at the Register Office or still with the Church. Certificates can only be produced from Registers in our custody.
Unfortunately we cannot refund any applications made for certificates for entries which are currently in the custody of churches.
Adopted Birth Entries.
People who have been adopted may obtain a copy of their birth entry from the General Register Office in Southport. The address is:
General Register Office,
ONS
Smedley Hydro
Trafalgar Road
Birkdale
Southport
PR8 2HH
Telephone: 0151 471 4830
Email: adoptions@ons.gov.uk
Overseas Registrations.
People who were born or married overseas may obtain information from the overseas section at General Register Office. (Address as above).
Telephone 0151 471 4801
Email: overseas.gro@ons.gov.uk
