English Birth Certificates: General Information for guidance only.
Order an official GRO issued replacement Birth Certificate online
Since around 1950, Birth Certificates issued in England and Wales used to be printed on a red background. The paper used is watermaked with the emblem of a crown and the letters GRO indicating General Register Office. However, between spring 1999 and 1 January 2000 the red background design was phased out to be replaced by a blue tint showing a central motif incorporating a rose emblem for England and a daffodil emblem for Wales.
These changes affected both Birth Certificates and Stillbirth Certificates. The validity of certificates issued in the old design before 1 January 2000 was unaffected.
Furthermore, the size for most certificates was standardised to A4. This included short Birth Certificates. The exceptions to this rule were full bilingual events in English and Welsh pertaining to events registered in Wales.
Birth Certificates are used for a broad range of purposes from passport applications to genealogy research. Taken on its own a Birth Certificate does not constitute proof of identity. Proof of identity always needs to be established from a variety of sources of which a Birth Certificate is but one component. Organisations wishing to view Birth Certificates include banks, insurance companies, schools and government departments. All such organisations were informed of the changes to the format.
A replacement long or full Birth Certificate for England and Wales will display a unique identifier for that certificate, the district and the sub district in which the original Birth Certificate was issued. This is followed by various fields showing:
The book entry number
When and where the birth took place
Given names (at time of registration)
The childs sex
Name and surname of father (if provided)
Name, surname and maiden surname of mother
Occupation of father
Name, description and residence of informant
Date of registration
Name of original registrar
Name entered after registration
The signature of the Superintendent Registrar
The date of issue of the replacement copy
The informant is frequently the father, however many maternity units are regularly visited by a registrar enabling mothers to register their babies births before returning home. It is not unusual for short Birth Certificates to be issued in such cases.
A long or full Birth Certificate is always required for passport applications. An official replacement copy of a full Birth Certificate can be used for all legal purposes e.g. applying for a passport, opening a bank account (used with other proofs of identity), emigration applications, working overseas, getting married overseas. If the document is to be used overseas it is important to check whether an Apostille is required by the authorities of the country concerned.
A Birth Certificate is a copy of an historical fact and can therefore only be changed if it can be shown to be incorrect. In such instances both parents have to be present and just cause has to be presented to the registrar. For this reason it is not possible to change the name on a Birth Certificate. A person can call themselves by whatever name they wish to be known by, they can only change their name for legal purposes by Deed Poll. However, as an historical record, their original Birth Certificate will always stand and be required for such purposes as a passport application.
The situation is different in the case of an Adoption Certificate which supersedes the original Birth Certificate for most legal purposes. The adoptee can always get a copy of their original Birth Certificate provided they know the full details of the natural parents. However this is not usually the case as the Adoption Certificate only gives the names of the adopting parents and not the original parents.
A short Birth Certificate gives no details of the parents at all. It can be used where someone does not wish to divulge this much information. Unfortunately this may include adopting parents who do not wish their adopted child to know that they were adopted. Sadly, it is not uncommon for people to learn they were adopted until later life, sometimes only after the death of their adopted parents.
You can order an official certified replacement Birth Certificate or Adoption Certificate online using the links below.
Order a replacement Birth Certificate
Order a replacement Adoption Certificate
Order a replacement Marriage Certificate
Order a replacement Death Certificate