Order a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership certificate

You need to register on the General Register Office (GRO) website to get a copy of a birth, adoption, death, marriage or civil partnership certificate in England and Wales.

You can use this service to research your family tree.

Order with the GRO index reference number. It takes around 10 minutes and you’ll need a debit or credit card.

Birth and Death Certificate

The service is currently experiencing high demand for copy certificates. Applications for certificates for historic / family history purposes cannot be accepted at this time, if you submit an application of this kind it will not be processed and you will be offered a refund.

Please only apply for certificates you require urgently i.e. for legal purposes, proof of ID etc copy certificate applications are currently being produced within 15 working days of application.

The Register Office remains closed for walk-in applications. We hold records for all births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships in Stoke on Trent since 1837.

If the event happened outside Stoke-on-Trent, contact the register office where it took place or the General Register Office Royal Stoke University Hospital is in Stoke-on-Trent. Douglas Macmillan Hospice is not in Stoke-on-Trent .

Marriage Certificates following ceremonies in the Church of England and other religious buildings.

Since the law changed in May 2022 it is no longer possible to be given a marriage certificate on the day of a ceremony.

The document the couple and witnesses sign during the marriage ceremony must be delivered to Stoke on Trent Register Office no later than 21 days after the ceremony.

The marriage cannot be registered until the signed document has been received by the Registrar.

After the marriage registration has been completed any pre-ordered marriage certificate(s) that you have already paid for can be issued and posted to you.

Important information Staff will not contact you once the marriage has been registered. It is your responsibility to submit an application and pay for any certificate(s) you require.

Details from the registers can be released in the form of a certified copy certificate. This is produced at a legally-set fee.

We can issue a certificate to anyone who is able to give us the date of the event and the full personal details of the person whose certificate is needed.

No proof of identity is necessary. You will need to supply us with enough information so we can find the record.

We will search indexes for a period of three years but only where accurate details are provided.