[pompeylass]

You’re absolutely right there. I’ve seen and used their Lancashire BMD lists and they’re a big improvement on the original St. Catherine’s House Index.

It means that you can sit at your computer and find reference numbers for any Birth, Death or Marriage Certificate; send away on-line using that reference number and the certificate arrives through the post in about a week without you leaving your home. It’s great.

I’ll just explain a few points. The first Index – commonly called ‘The St. Catherine’s House Index’ was compiled in the head offices of Registrations in the London Government Department by a cleric each year.

The cleric would compile a national list from lots of local lists from all round the country – so it’s a list of lists – a long way from the originals. That’s where errors and omissions crept into the works.

LFHHSociety's volunteers went round to all the Local Registrar Offices and compiled new lists from the original certificates and gave them new reference numbers.

So now you can send locally for a certificate using the new reference numbers and still not leave your home.

Power to the Volunteers and the LFHHSociety.