Ordering a copy certificate

We can provide original copies of birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates registered in the local area since 1837 to the present date.

If you wish to order a certificate for family history purposes, please visit our family history certificate page.

Ordering a certificate

Generally applications are dealt with in one working day.

Online

If the birth, marriage, or death took place between 1837 to around 1950, you can search indexes online and order a copy certificate through the Cheshire BMD website.

By post

If the birth, marriage, civil partnership or death was registered in the Cheshire West and Chester area between 1837 to the present date, you can obtain a copy by post.

To do this, please write a letter including your name, address and the following details for each certificate for which you are applying:

• The Cheshire BMD reference, but only if known
• Birth - name, date and place of birth. Any other supporting information is also helpful to include such as, parents’ names
• Marriage - name of bride and groom, date and place of marriage 
• Civil Partnership - name of both partners, date and place of civil partnership
• Death – date and place of death and name of the deceased

Along with your letter, please send us a postal order or cheque payable to Cheshire West and Chester Council and send to:

Chester Register Office
Goldsmith House
Goss Street
Chester, CH1 2BG

In person

If the birth, marriage, civil partnership or death was registered in the Cheshire West and Chester area between 1837 to the present date, you can visit the Register Office in person to complete an application form and make your payment.

We can not guarantee that your certificate will be ready on the same day of your order.

You can either collect your certificate from the Register Office or we can post it out to you. Please check our Register Office opening times before visiting us.

If you have any queries about ordering, please telephone 0300 123 7 037.

Certificates cost

Certificates are held in current registers by a Registrar until the register has no entries left and it is completed. Once registers are completed they are deposited with the Superintendent Registrar into an archive and cost more to obtain. 

Once a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership has been registered, one or more certificates may be purchased, either at the time of registration or a later date.

• Certificates issued at the time of registration: £4 each
• From a Registrar’s current register: £7 each
• From a Superintendent Registrar’s deposited register: £10

If you are unsure how much your certificate will cost, you can telephone us on 0300 123 7 037.

Are copy certificates the same as original certificates?

A copy certificate is a copy of an entry made in a registrar's book.  All certificates, whether obtained at the time of the event or at a later date are copies of this original entry.  

The original entry remains in the Registrar's book but a Registrar is able to provide a certified copy of the original entry on request.

A certified copy certificate provides the same information as the original entry and is the same as the certificate that would have been received at the time of the birth, death, marriage or civil partnership.