Order a certificate

To order a certificate, you will first need to find the appropriate record.

You can use our online register search to find birth, death and marriage records from 1837-2008. However not all our records are searchable.

If you cannot find the record you're looking for you can make an enquiry.

To find a record from a birth or death register you need to provide:

• Where and when the birth or death occurred
• Full name of the person

You can also provide further supporting information, for example the parents' names for a birth, and the age and occupation for a death. This will help the registrars to find the correct record where there are two or more possible entries for the same name.

To find a record from a marriage register you need to provide:

• Name of the church, chapel or register office
• Date of the wedding
• Name of one or both parties who were married

Remember that, where a church or chapel has its own marriage register it is only deposited with the Register Office after it has been completed which can take many years. Otherwise, you will need to contact the person responsible for the registers at the appropriate church or chapel to obtain a copy.

At the moment we do not have an online ordering system.

If you have found a record on our historical search and you want to request a certificate, you should note down the on-screen record details and send them to:

Register Office
10 Broughton Road,
South Shields,
NE33 2RN

Please inlude your payment if you are paying by cheque or postal order, and your contact details, including full address.

Alternatively, requests can be made by email.

If you want to pay by card, please call the Register Office on 0191 424 6350 and payment can be taken over the phone. 

If you are ordering more than one certificate please make out a separate cheque for each search. If one search is unsuccessful we need only return the cheque for that search and issue on the remaining.

If you have made an enquiry and we have successfully found the correct record, simply request a certificate and we'll let you know how you can pay.

Certificates are available either same day, or after 5 working days. See our fees.

Certificates can be issued at the Register Office until 3.15pm, this is to give staff sufficient time to locate and issue as required before the office closes at 4pm.  

Certificates ordered by telephone are only issued until 2.30pm (same day service certificate issue is subject to availability).

Cheques, postal orders or International Money Orders that can be presented in a UK bank should be made payable to the 'South Tyneside Council', and sent to South Tyneside Register Office, 10 Broughton Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2RN with your order form.  

Card payments can be made by telephone and cash is accepted at the counter. Please do not send cash through the post.  

We will not issue a copy certificate until we have contacted you to confirm your order and received your payment.

If you need help with any of the information on these pages, contact the Register Office using the details below. 

Register Office
10 Broughton Road,
South Shields,
NE33 2RN

Phone: 0191 424 6350
Email: registrars@southtyneside.gov.uk

Postal requests for certificates can be made to:

General Register Office
PO Box 2
Southport
Merseyside PR8 2JD

Tel: 03001231837

Some of the most important documents can be located at the local Record Office. These could be census returns, baptism, burial and marriage registers or workhouse records to name but a few.

The 1881 census is widely available to purchase from software suppliers on CD ROM which provides the entire census for that year for England and Wales in an easy to use format.

Online access to the 1911 census for a small fee is now available.