Copy certificates
Obtaining copies of birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates.
All birth, marriage and death records that occurred in Dorset since 1837 are held with us. We hold civil partnership records from 2005.
We do not hold records for Bournemouth or the town of Poole (Poole is sometimes shown as a sub-district on records that we hold, if in doubt please contact us).
We hold all records for Christchurch from 1 April 1997 onwards. Prior to this date all records are held at Bournemouth, with the exception of some marriage records. For marriages in Christchurch prior to 1997 please contact us for more information before applying.
For certificates outside of Dorset you should contact the Local register office for the area or the General Register Office.
How to apply
- By phone
Call Dorset Registration Service on 01305/01202 225153
- By post
Dorset History Centre (Certificates)
Bridport Road
Dorchester
Dorset DT1 1RP
- In person at the Dorset History Centre
Certificates are normally issued within five to seven days and can be posted to you or collected from us.
Fees
- The fee for a certificate from our archive is £10.00
- If the event was registered very recently it may be in a current register in which case it will be £7.00
- If in doubt please telephone us to check
- Please make cheques or postal orders payable to Dorset County Council
Express service
We can issue a certificate within 24 hours of receiving your application for an extra £10. This will be posted 1st Class or can be collected from us
Information we need from you
We need enough information to correctly identify the entry in the register which should, ideally, be the following:
- Birth certificates: Date and place of birth, full name and parent's names
- Death certificates: Date and place of death and name of deceased
- Marriage certificates: Date and place of marriage, bride and groom's full names
- Civil partnerships: Date and place of civil partnership, both parties names
Obtaining more information
If you do not have enough information to apply for a certificate you can arrange an appointment to search our indexes or alternatively, you may wish to contact the Dorset History Centre which has a microfiche copy of the General Register Office (GRO) indexes from 1837 to 1992.
Records before 1837
We do not hold any further records but there are other helpful sources of information such as census records or baptismal registers. You may wish to contact the Dorset History Centre for further information.
