Somerset House is often spelt incorrectly as Summerset House, Sumerset House, Sumerset House and Sommerset House. The first building was a home built for the Duke of Somerset in 1547. Situated in Central London on the Strand, the current building dates from the late 18th century (1776 - 1796).
Designed by William Chambers, the 18th century incarnation, was supposed to be used as public offices and institutions. The Royal Academy of Arts (where Sir Joshua Reynolds was laid in state), The Royal Society, The Society of Antiquaries and The Navy Board are some of the famous institutions which were located at Somerset House.
Somerset House is most associated with supplying a certified copy of a BMD record, but more specifically, the issuing of England and Wales birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates. In 1837, when civil registration began, the Registrar General of the General Register Office was based in Somerset House.
For nearly 150 years, registers and records stayed at Somerset House. In1970 the General Register Office moved from Somerset House to St Catherine's House, which is also often inaccurately spelt as St Catherine House, St Katherine House and St Katherine's House. The civil registration index became known as the St Catherine's House index.
From 1970 to 1997 the records were held at St Catherine's House. In 1997 they were then transferred to the Family Records Centre in Myddleton Street in North London. The Family Records Centre has search rooms for marriages and deaths indexes, GRO births, Public Record Office wills and census rooms.
Somerset House is now a visual arts centre. Courtauld Gallery, The Gilbert Collection and the Hermitage Rooms fill the building.
You will receive full or long form certificates which are certified legal copies, unabridged, suitable for official purposes such as Passports, Pensions, Visas, Driving Licences, Work pre-checks including those conducted by the Criminal Records Bureau, or for Housing Applications, Social Security and Immigration.
UK Document Services provide a safe and secure online ordering system for replacement certificates. All private data sent between your browser and our servers is protected using industry standard encryption protocols.
If you do not know all the details for your certificate, this is not a problem. We will do our best with the information you have to locate the record and will confirm the details with you if we are unsure. If you decide not to proceed, we will issue you a full refund.
If you need a certificate for applications such as Passports, Pensions, Visas, Driving Licences, Work pre-checks including Criminal Records Bureau checks, Housing Applications, Social Security and Immigration or are conducting Family History Research, we are here to help.
