August 14, 2012

Who do you think you are? New Series

A new series of the popular TV family history show starts tomorrow on BBC One at 9:00 pm starting with Samantha Womack the Eastenders actress.

Episode 1 of 10, Who Do You Think You Are?, Series 9

Duration: 1 hour

Classic genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? returns for its ninth series, delving into the ancestry of some of the UK's best-known faces. The new series sees ten celebrities embark on intense personal journeys to discover their families' pasts.

2012's series witnesses fascinating tales of infidelity, tragedy and adventure. Covering over 400 years of history, the programmes unearth secret telegrams and rare and previously undiscovered documents that bring our celebrities' ancestors to life. The series takes us on an historical rollercoaster of trials and triumphs, political intrigue, guilt, and treasonous plotting.

First up is actress Samantha Womack, best known for playing Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders. Sam's parents separated when she was young, and she grew up with only a fractured sense of her family history. Sam starts her journey by looking into the military career of her great grandfather, Alexander Cunningham Ryan, to discover whether the rumour that he was gassed during the First World War is true. However, the story quickly takes an astonishing turn as Sam discovers a puzzling discrepancy in Alexander's military record. As Sam investigates further, she uncovers the shocking truth and finds out how her great grandfather destroyed his military career. More information

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July 3, 2012

UPDATE NOTICE: Familyrelatives.com is updating many sections of the website and interruptions to the site may occur. Please bear with us as these changes take place, which we hope, will provide you with an improved visitor experience.

Familyrelatives.com apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

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Who do you think you are? and Heir Hunters TV repeats available on BBC iplayer May 2012

With the interest in the popular TV series Who do you think you are and Heir hunters many of these programmes a repeated on TV. However if you missed them you can always watch these again online. These can be watched online using the BBC iplayer, simply download the iplayer viewer and watch the programme you want. To find out more on how to do this select one of the following links;

Who do you think you are? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007t575

Programme schedule - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007t575/episodes/guide

Heir Hunters - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007nms5

Programme schedule - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007nms5/episodes/guide

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Familyrelatives.com adds Scottish Trade Directories dating back 185 years October 2011

Having released over 40 volumes of Scottish Trade Directories in 2009, we are pleased to release an additional 60 volumes of Directories dating back from 1825 to the early part of the 19th Century during the growing influence of the Industrial Revolution and the British Empire. Scottish Trade Records>>

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New series of Who do you think you are?  August 2011

A new series of Who do you think you are? returns to BBC 1 on Wednesday 10th August (9.00pm). The ten weekly episodes will show JK Rowling, Emilia Fox and Robin Gibb and others trace their family ancestry and take them through the high and lows of family history research.

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Familyrelatives.com adds Whos Who collection and National Biography records February 2011

Search the Who's Who in Sport for sportsmen and sportswomen in your family tree. This is a remarkable reference work and permanent record of sportsmen and women during the interwar years. An Authoritative Reference Guide to Sport and Sportsmen published in 1935

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New Heir Hunters Series on BBC television February 2011

Series 5 which follows the work of teams of probate detectives, who track down missing family members of people who have died without making a will.

Click here for more information on the BBC website

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Introducing historic Post Office Records on Familyrelatives.com November 2010

New and exclusive to Familyrelatives.com - The most recent additions to our ever expanding collection are the Post Office records to over 1,000,000 people dating back to 1800 Post Office Records>>

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Familyrelatives.com is proud to announce the addition of 2,000,000 New Navy Records spanning over 160 years. July 2010

The records of commissioned officers of the Royal Navy dating back 163 years have been published online for the first time by Familyrelatives.com New Navy Records >>

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Familyrelatives.com invites you to commemorate the 65^th Anniversary of Victory in Europe on May 8^th - V.E. Day 

This Saturday, May 8^th will mark Victory in Europe exactly 65 Years ago - At the time Winston Churchill, broadcasting from the Cabinet Room at Number 10 announced the end of the War with Nazi Germany. An unconditional ceasefire had been signed in Rheims , France the day before.  Vast crowds gathered outside Buckingham Palace and cheered the Royal Family - including the King, Queen and both Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret and Winston Churchill. Above is how the Daily Mail reported it 65 Years ago. New Military Records >>

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Back to School - Introducing historic School Registers on Familyrelatives.com April 2010

New and exclusive to Familyrelatives.com - The most recent additions to our ever expanding collection are the School registers to over 250,000 pupils and masters dating back to 1500  Read more..>>

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Familyrelatives.com is pleased to announce the release of 5 million Parish records online.  February 2010

The database is a collection of historical parish and probate registers from many Counties of England and Wales dating from the early 1500s to the middle to late 19th Century. Read more....>>

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From Tea to the Titanic....Victorian Scottish Trade Directories provide a fascinating insight into Scottish heritage....

Familyrelatives.com is proud to announce the addition of over a quarter of a million Victorian Scottish Trade Directory records online December 2009

Familyrelatives.com continues to add to its collection of Trade directories by releasing Trade and individual records dedicated to Scotland.

Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory is an impressive record of all aspects of life in Scotland in 1889. Apart from Topographical and Postal Information it contains lists of professionals, landowners, Gentry, farmers, factors, London and Provincial Bankers and a fascinating array of advertisements at the time accompanies the text.

The Slater's Directories form a unique collection of 35 Scottish Counties with invaluable occupational and commercial information for 1889 at the peak of Victoria's reign. The directories with over a quarter of a million entries contain allthe major professions, trades and occupations including taverns and public houses as well as the nobility, gentry and clergy. Even the addresses are identified.

The Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland in its day was more than equal to today's Telephone directory and Yellow pages combined. Interestingly - following the invention of the telephone the abbreviations state that "TN with the figures following denote the number in the List of the National Telephone Company Limited", established only a few years earlier in 1881.

Towns and parishes are detailed for each area and the introduction contains key information including the number of inhabitants (taken from the 1871 census) with a geographical and topographical description and the local history. A description of the main trades, produce, manufacturers and industries of the area or town are also covered.

Trade was often at the centre of every community - not only were there many shops but the produce, available minerals, manufacturing, transport and shipping all contributed to the growing Victorian economy. Many of the buildings that remain today reflect the social history and economic growth of Scotland. Educational establishments as well as teachers and local government officials, public buildings and offices are listed and formed part of these communities.

Sir Thomas Lipton of Lipton Tea 

The Directory lists well known names like; Sir Thomas Lipton of Lipton Tea who was described as a "ham and provision merchant", with addresses of his stores across Scotland and England with his residential address as Johnston Villa, Cambuslang, Glasgow, Lanarkshire. It also lists Alexander Graham Bell's best friend and neighbour John Herdman, a corn merchant and miller where Bell at the age of 12 invented a small de-husking machine that was put into operation at the mill.

Sir William Arrol & Co - built the Forth Bridge & Tower Bridge

Sir William Arrol & Co. which was a leading Scottish civil engineering business based in Glasgow, built many bridges in its 113 year history in Great Britainbut best known for the ForthBridgeand TowerBridgein Londonand others abroad. Arrol was contracted to build one of the largest gantries for the construction of three new super liners, one of which was the Titanic. The company is listed as one of the many iron works and commercial businesses in the directory.

Scottish Records - The first of many to be added  

"We are pleased to announce the release of these Scottish records online which complement the existing Trade and Occupational Directories collection. This is the first of the Scottish records to be placed online and is part of a programme to add more Scottish records in the future", commented a spokesman for the family history website.

The collection is searchable by surname and forename or the business name for each of the 35 counties. The Trade directories provide an invaluable resource for family history researchers wanting to know more about the area where their ancestors lived and the various trades and businesses where they worked.

The collection is only a small part of over 650 million historic records available online to all members and visitors by way of an annual subscription of only £30.00 or US$50.00 at https://www.familyrelatives.com/index.php

Search Victorian Scottish Trade Directories

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Victorian Medical Registers - including Doctors, Dentists and Midwives go online at Familyrelatives.com November 2009

From Cholera to Antiseptic to the inventor of a drug that has saved over 200 million lives....

Familyrelatives.com is proud to announce the addition of 1,000,000 New Medical Records spanning over 90 years.

Familyrelatives.com today launched over one million records of Doctors, Dentist and Midwives spanning over 90 years from 1853 to 1943. The records provide a fascinating insight and invaluable resource to anyone researching the background of any family member who was a doctor, a dentist or midwife

A dedicated team at Familyrelatives.com spent several months painstakingly scanning and indexing original medical registers allowing them to be searched on different criteria including surname, forename and date to provide one of the most comprehensive and accurate databases available. Read more>>

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WHAT DO YOU THINK? Take our Survey Help us Improve our service to you Learn more>>

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1 Million New Military Records added to Familyrelatives.com November 2009

From Wellington to General Gordon of Khartoum

From Waterloo to the Charge of the Light Brigade to the Great War

Familyrelatives.com is proud to announce the addition of 1,000,000 New Military Records spanning over 100 years.

This autumn marks the 201^st anniversary of the beginning of the Peninsular War and to commemorate, the event Familyrelatives.com has added over 1 million army records covering a broad range from 1808 through to De Ruvigny's biographical record of World War I soldiers.  Read more>>

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New School Register released online - September 2009
New and exclusive to Familyrelatives.com - The most recent additions to our ever expanding collection are the School registers to over 120,000 pupils and masters dating back to 1500.

The list is comprised of major schools which are among the oldest of independent educational establishments in the United Kingdom, such as Sherborne School which was founded in710 and re-founded in 1550 by Edward VI. Read more>>

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New US Military Collection released online - July 2009
One of the largest and most complete Rolls of Honor for the US Civil War has been released by Familyrelatives.com. It is the first time that all 27 volumes have been made available online. Read more>>

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New series of Who do you think you are? is here July 2009

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Heir Hunters returns to our screens on BBC1
June 29, 2009

Following the success of the second series of Heir Hunters the series returns to our screens on Monday June 29th, on BBC1 at 9.15 a.m. find out how the beneficiaries of unclaimed estates left by deceased persons who have not made a will are tracked down by rival probate genealogy companies having used the Familyrelatives.com website in a bid to claim their share of the estate before it goes to HM Treasury.

Watch the series as these cases develop, family secrets unfold and the highs and lows of researching family trees. Tracing Wills learn more>>

If you missed the series on television you can watch them online with BBC iplayer.

Heir Hunters - Series following the work of heir hunters, probate detectives looking for distant relatives of people who have died without making a will. Watch the episodes again on BBC iplayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007nms5

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Who really owned Britain - was it your forbears?

Britain's Victorian "Doomsday Book" released online by Familyrelatives.com

The first ever complete collection of fully searchable Landowner returns is published online today for England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

A record of who owned land in Britain and Ireland was created over a hundred years ago by the Victorians as a response to the great outcry about what was described as the monopoly of land. The wildest and most reckless exaggerations and mis-statements of fact were uttered about the number of individuals who were actual owners of the soil. Read more>>

June 2009

D-Day 65 Years Ago June 6 1944

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Canadian Civil Service salaries published online

The world's largest collection of Canadian Civil Service records is now available on the internet.

Familyrelatives.com today launched over 200,000 Canadian Civil Service records for the period 1872-1918. The fully searchable records offer a fascinating insight into the machinery of government - from the Governor General's office and those employed in Parliament (House of Commons & Senate) to the 10 people in the "Slide and Boom" Service of the Inland Revenue all of whom are meticulously accounted for.The online records reveal the civil servants name, position, department, length of service, salary and date of appointment.

The period covers the early years of theDominion of Canada from 1872 through to the end of the First World War, when immigration to North America was increasing Canada saw the majority of migrants arriving from Britain and Ireland which accounted for a large proportion of the Government Service Lists.  In 1870 this influx reached its highest level. more..

May 2009 

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New military collection released by Familyrelatives.com commemorates the end of the First World War

In commemoration of the 90^th anniversary since the end of the First World War Familyrelatives.com is proud to announce the release of a new military collection online today.

The Artists Rifles Roll of Honour, the Anzac Roll of Honour and the New Zealand Roll of Honour as well as the Waterloo Roll call, Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy 1660-1815 and the British Naval Biographical Dictionary 1849, all form part of the new collection. More info

Familyrelatives.com release Irish Records Collection October 2008

One of the largest collections of Irish records available is being released online by http://www.familyrelatives.com/. This forms part of a programme to add more than 10 million new records by the end of this year.

The new sources will contain, Indexes to Irish Wills 1536-1857 (5 Volumes), Irish Genealogical Guide, Quaker Records Dublin Abstracts of Wills, Alumni Dublinense 1593-1846, Ireland Topographical Dictionary, Land Records Ireland, Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy, 1660-1815, Irish Names and Surnames, MacDonald's Directory - 5 counties and the Medical Register for Ireland 2 Volumes. The records contain amongst other material, surnames, year, location and county. More info

SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE - We will be upgrading our equipment on Wednesday 17 September, 2008 morning (GMT +1) which may result in the website being taken offline, please note that we will keep this to a minimum however you may experience an interruption to the website service and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

New series of Who do you think you are? coming soon
August 2008

The new series of Who Do You Think You Are? will premiere on BBC1 at 9.00pm on Wednesday 13 August.

The first episode begins with the story of Patsy Kensit who explores her forebears, her father Jimmy Kensit was an East end villain with links to the infamous Kray gangster twins. find out more>>

Heir Hunters returns to our screens on BBC1
June 2008

Following the success of the first series of Heir Hunters the series returns to our screens on Monday June 30th, on BBC1 at 9.15 am find out how the beneficiaries of unclaimed estates left by deceased persons who have not made a will are tracked down by rival probate genealogy companies using the Familyrelatives.com website in a bid to claim their share of the estate before it goes to HM Treasury.

Watch the series as these cases develop, family secrets unfold and the highs and lows of researching family trees. Tracing Wills learn more>>

If you missed the series on television you can watch them online with BBC iplayer.

Heir Hunters - Series following the work of heir hunters, probate detectives looking for distant relatives of people who have died without making a will. Watch the episodes again on BBC iplayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007nms5

National Archives reopens its doors
June 25, 2008

The National Archives officially launches its new reading rooms following a £4 million transformation to accommodate its family records service, setting a new standard for archives in a digital age.

Now The National Archives brings together all of its family history and historical assets into a one-stop-shop of online resources, with practical face-to-face support to help researchers make the most of the wealth of information available.  more info>>

Familyrelatives.com sponsor Society of Genealogists
Family History Show 2008
March 2008

Following the success of the Family History Show last year, Familyrelatives.com is proud to sponsor the Society of Genealogists Family History Show 2008. The Family History Show - Who do you think you are? LIVE promises to be bigger and better and is taking place in May starting on Friday 2^nd to Sunday 4^th Grand Hall, Olympia, London. more info>>

Free Age Distribution Maps

How long are you going to Live? Distribution maps 

We are delighted to provide a new and unique feature on Familyrelatives.com

We have taken in excess of 50 million historical death records and have mapped them for the first time. By typing out a name it searches over 600 million records in our databases - extracts all the deaths and clusters them before providing an average age for each county and mapping it.

Please be patient as it can take anything up to 60 seconds to search all the 600 million records and render the map.

For example try typing: Hunter in the Last Name field and click search

If you wish to view the map for the period 1866-1920 please register and go to the main search page. It's Free and very interesting to compare.

Please note we are using historical data and you should therefore not worry if the Average or National age is low - its based on historical data.   

Life Expectancy 1866-1920 age map

Life Expectancy 1984-2005 age map

The Family Records Centre has Closed
17 March 2008

The services formerly offered by The National Archives at the Family Records Centre (FRC), relating to census returns, wills and other sources, are now available at The National Archives in Kew.

For the services formerly offered by the General Register Office at the FRC, relating to births, marriages, deaths, adoptions and civil partnerships, seehttp://www.gro.gov.uk/.

Search the GRO indexes on Familyrelatives.com, simply register and sign-up to start searching the indexes. Full text searching available see table for details - Records available online Table

Registration is free of charge.

Searches boosted by Marriage Match^TM and Marriage Booster^TM
February 2008

Familyrelatives.com has seen a boost in the use of the Marriage Match^TM Search facility and Marriage Booster^TM for the GRO Indexes 1866 to 1920 and 1984 to 2005 since they were released 

The Marriage match^TM is a unique facility only available to Familyrelatives.com. Until now it has always been difficult to find the spouse of a family member unless you have the certificate. However Marriage Match^TM allows you to match all those other persons who were married in the same District, on the same quarter, in the same year.

Traditionally there have only been 2 or 3 Marriage Certificates listed on one page at the General Register Office. Therefore Marriage Match^TM finds all the entries that match the same criteria on the page at the GRO that you have just searched. Thereby giving you a much better opportunity of finding the spouse of the person for whom you are looking. In order to use Marriage Match^TM all you need to do is search for the person for which you have the marriage details once you have located the correct person press the icon found next to the image . This will then allow you to view all those people who match the same criteria.  The Marriage Match^TM is available for 1866 to 1920 and 1984 to 2005 (although the spouses name is already available on the record).

Please note there is small charge for this service. The cost for using the Marriage match^TM search facility is 1 unit for pay-per-view members.

Please see the search screen of each dataset for available features. 

Ever searched for a Marriage and thought - you have the surname and the spouse name but you have no idea of the year, quarter or district and found yourself browsing through all the records trying to find that elusive marriage. Or, you have the surname and spouse name as well as the district but still have been unable to find the entries. Well -  the answer is simple the - Marriage Booster^TM will search over 150 million records and find those entries that match the criteria for you in a matter of seconds. So no more browsing through dozens of images, the Marriage Booster^TM search is performed immediately and the results appear in seconds.

Try searching for the marriage of Charles Chaplin and Hill (Spouse) and immediately an entry appears, without knowing the year or quarter - it is of course 1885 and the district of St. Saviour Southwark

The Marriage Booster^TM is available for 1866 to 1920 and 1984 to 2005

How popular is your name? Baby Names 2007
January 2008

The ONS and the GRO have recently published a list of the top names for boys and girls for 2007

Boys
Once again, there is no change at the top, with Jack the number one boys' name. Thomas also retains his second place slot with 5803 boys sharing the name in 2007. The only movement in the top five is the exchange of places between Joshua and Oliver to third and fourth respectively, with Harry remaining fifth. Read more>>

TOP GIRLS NAMES

Top 100 names for baby girls in England and Wales. Click here

TOP BOYS NAMES

Top 100 names for baby boys in England and Wales. Click here

If you need ideas for names, use the search facility on Familyrelatives.com we have literally millions of names to choose from. Enter a name and view the images.
 

Changes to website Terms
January 16, 2008

Familyrelatives.com has moved registered offices, please see our website terms on the Information page for details.

Happy New year !!
January 2008

Familyrelatives.com wishes all members and visitors to the website a healthy and happy New year.

We will be continuing our efforts to improve the website for the benefit of all our members and we will keep adding new features and more family history research information to our growing databases.

How many Santas are there in your tree? Here are a few festive names we have found so far!!
December 20, 2007 

Familyrelatives.com adds more features to the site
November 26, 2007

Familyrelatives.com a growing online resource for family historians and record centres has launched four more features that enable members create their own homepage, upload family photographs, sell items online and make announcements on important events. These new features will allow members to promote and share with other researchers their findings and interests.

New online features

• Your Homepage
• Photo gallery
• Classifieds
• Announcement

After recently adding social networking capabilities to the site, Familyrelatives.com has kept the momentum and added more facilities and they're all available free of charge.

"We have had a fantastic response to the new social features already added and thousands of members have uploaded their profiles to the site. With these new features - users can extend their interaction with others and those who wish to make an announcement or create their own homepage can and for free." said spokesman Robert Woods.

Your Homepage - will allow members to create their own homepage and add notable dates, special interests and names that are being researched. Members are able to customise the look of their homepage, select a layout and add a photograph and caption.

A photo gallery provides members with the opportunity to preserve images and photographs in one location - members can add photographs in Jpeg, Tiff, bmp etc to their image gallery. Users can select whether to share these with everyone or with family and friends or keep them private.

The Classifieds section of the site enables members to publicise items they wish to sell including Postcards, Stamps, Documents, Genealogical Services, CDs, and many other items of memorabilia and ephemera. After spending all those hours of research, collecting books and research material, people may find they have duplicate copies of books that are no longer required and these can now be advertised online for free.

The final feature to be added will let members create an announcement for free by adding or promoting special announcements of over 30 different types including reunions, tributes and of course Births, Marriages and Deaths to the website. The wonderful aspect of the announcement is that you can also share the information you create with others or just allow family and friends to see these or keep them private ...it's up to you.

The new features are currently accessible from the MyAccount page, please register and login for more information.

Changes to FRC services on the ground floor from October/November 2007

Saturday 27th October 2007

Index Books 

During the month of October, the paper indexes will be removed from the ground floor and transferred to ONS Christchurch for storage at which point there will be no further public access.

Set below is the timetable for the move:

The paper indexes for Adoption records will be retained by the FRC.

Access to the remaining paper indexes and all events held either on microfiche or PC based systems will continue to be provided on the ground floor until 17:00 on Friday 26 October.

From 9:00 on Saturday 27 October access to the BMD and Overseas indexes held on microfiche and PC based systems together with the paper indexes for Adoptions will be available in "C Section" on the first floor.

Internet systems permitting access to indexes currently located on the first floor will continue as present.

For further news please visit:
http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/frc/news/ons-news.htm

General Register Office to join Identity and Passport Service

Wednesday 10th October 2007

The General Register Office (GRO) in England and Wales will become part of the Identity and Passport Service from 1 April 2008.

The change will mean that the responsibility for overseeing the recording of births, marriages, civil partnerships and deaths in England and Wales will transfer from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which is to become independent of ministers, to the Identity and Passport Service, an Executive Agency of the Home Office. GRO Scotland and GRO Northern Ireland remain the responsibility of the devolved administrations.

IPS reports to Meg Hillier, Home Office Minister responsible for Identity. Welcoming the change, Meg Hillier said:

"The Identity and Passport Service and the General Register Office for England and Wales are already working closely together.

"In order to take this work a step further and fully realise the benefits of combining registration of life events in England and Wales and the issuing of passports, it is sensible that the IPS and GRO should be part of the same organisation."

IPS Chief Executive James Hall said:

"The General Register Office joining the Identity and Passport Service is welcome news. Working as one organisation will allow us to explore the possibility of integrating passport, identity card and life event registration processes. This would reduce red tape and make life easier for people, as well as strengthen the integrity of our systems."