The UK BDM (Births Deaths and Marriages) Exchange

Another great idea, flawed only by the incompleteness of the data and reliance on volunteers – so take this as a call to action! It is a free resource, putting you in touch with other genealogists and listing the BDM certificates they hold. If you spend a few minutes posting the details of certificates you have in your possession, other researchers can email you for details rather than having to buy a copy of the certificate themselves. You, in turn, may be able to benefit from the researches of others. It also works as a surname listing, putting you in touch with people who have same-name interests as you in the same geographical areas.



To understand more about the object of the service, click first on Help in the purple buttons to the left of the homepage. If this button is not immediately on view (it is near the bottom of the list), scroll down on the adjacent bar. The page that now comes up is headed How to Navigate the UK BDM Exchange. Before navigating, however, you still need to understand what the site is trying to do. Click on About (in blue lettering at the bottom of the page), and at last you get answers.


SPECIAL FEATURES


Use the purple buttons down the left-hand side of the page to select from a list including Births, Deaths, Marriages, Baptisms, Burials and ParMarr (Parish Marriages), and then click on the relevant letter of the alphabet from the bar along the bottom of the page to see if anyone is researching the name you are interested in. If you know a maiden, but not a married, name, click on Wives, which may produce the married name you need, in which case return to one of the earlier lists.



If you find a record you want to consult further, contact the researcher at the address indicated. Those certificates that have proved irrelevant or are no longer wanted have a 'Y' beside them, meaning that the researcher in question is prepared to pass them on. Researchers will still give information, of course, even where the actual certificates are being retained, so if you have any certificates of your own that you are prepared to share or pass on, register here!