UK death records are held by four separate registrars — England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland — and start at different dates. For Tamil family research, most searches begin with England and Wales (1837+) since that is where the vast majority of British-side Tamil ancestors were resident.
Key dates
- England and Wales — civil registration from 1 July 1837.
- Scotland — from 1 January 1855.
- Ireland (all-island pre-1922; Republic post) — from 1 January 1864.
- Northern Ireland — separate GRO(NI) records from 1922.
What is captured
Every UK death certificate records: date, place, name, age, sex, occupation, cause of death, informant. See United Kingdom Death Records guide for the full field-by-field breakdown.
Where to search
- gro.gov.uk — England and Wales (£11 per certified copy; free indexes).
- scotlandspeople.gov.uk — Scotland.
- irishgenealogy.ie — Ireland pre-1922 and Republic post-1922 (free for records over 50 years old).
- nidirect.gov.uk/gro — Northern Ireland post-1922.
