Family history

The Registration Service has custody of registers that record births, deaths and marriages occurring in Rochdale since July 1837 when civil registration was introduced in this country.

A certified copy of records of births, deaths or marriages occurring within Rochdale for which we hold the record, can be obtained from the Register Office, using the contact details in the column to the right.

For an event which happened elsewhere, contact the Register Office for the district where the event occurred.

When applying for a certificate the following information will be required for us to find the correct entry:

Births

Date and place of birth
Full name of child
Mother’s full name and maiden name, father’s full name

Deaths

Date and place of death
Full name of the deceased and your relationship
Occupation
Marital status

Marriages

Date and place of marriage
Full names of both bride and groom at the time of the marriage
The ages of the bride and bridegroom

For more information contact the Register Office.

Family Research

How do I trace my family tree?

The best way to start is to find out what information is available to you from your own family. Most families will have kept copies of old birth, death and marriage certificates. There are other documents that may be useful. These include grave papers, adoption papers, old school reports, family photographs and any old newspaper cuttings. You will certainly find it informative, if you talk to older family members who can tell you about family members who are no longer alive. Be sure to record the information you obtain and try and establish any relevant dates.

More information on my family

Local Register Office

All Register Offices hold records of Births, Deaths and Marriages from 1837 for their own area. If you wish to purchase a copy certificate, you will need to state the name, the approximate date and place of the event. Most Register Offices will search a maximum of five years.

If you wish to undertake a wider search of the indexes, you can book a general search with a Register Office. For a fee of £18 you can spend up to six hours searching the Register Office Indexes. This allows you to search all indexes for a maximum of six hours. If you needed any certificates to be issued, you would pay an additional fee for each certificate.

Duplicates of certificates can be bought for £7 each as a cash payment only. For any transaction under £10 by debit or credit card, will incur a £1 administration fee. The Registrars section only has information on people who died, were born, or got married or joined in civil partnership in Rochdale. For births, deaths and marriages and civil partnerships that took place in another part of the country or outside the country you would need to contact another Register Office in another area, or the embassy or high commission of that country.

If you wish to undertake a search of the records at Rochdale Register Office, please email Rochdale Register office for more information.

Lancashire Family History Society

View Rochdale Birth, Marriage and Death indexes on the web!

Rochdale Register office is working in partnership with Lancashire Family History Society to make all indexes records for birth, marriages and deaths available on the Internet.

More information on birth, marriage and death records available on the website Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths

Census Records

In 1801 the Government introduced a national census of the population of this country. This has been carried out every 10 years since. This information gives details of where people lived and worked and reflected social trends of the time.

Many of the older census records for Rochdale can be viewed at the Local Studies section of Rochdale Library. They are located in the Arts and Heritage Centre, The Esplanade, Rochdale.

The Government only makes census records available after 100 years. The most recent census to be released is the 1901 records. These census records are the first to be available on the Internet.

The 1901 Census for England and Wales.

Birth Death and Marriage Records

Heywood - 1837 to present day. Some General Register Office indexes may have Heywood shown as district but the birth was in Radcliffe area, these records are at Bury Council.

Link to Bury Council's website

Littleborough - 1837 to present day.

Middleton - 1837-1933; 1974 to present. (1933-1974 records are held at Oldham Register Office).

Link to Oldham Council's website

Milnrow - 1837 to present day Rochdale1837 to present day Whitworth 1837-1974 (after this date, they are at Hyndburn and Rossendale Register Office).