Re: Missing bits of the GRO index.

I checked the microfilm at Ottawa LDS this morning and the 80 names
appear to be on the list. This is a typewritten list - I have always
assumed these were prepared for years in which the handwritten entries
were too hard to read.

Dave Mayall...

I understand that the typewritten copies were prepared to replace books
which were becoming excessively worn.

Where a book was retyped, sometimes it was retyped in duplicate and multiple
copies replaced at once.

This of course raises the question as to which book served as the base
for the typewritten list :-)

Dave Mayall...

It actually raises the question of just how many copies of the books ever
existed.

Certainly, I'm aware that in addition to the set at the FRC (which is the
same set that was at St Catherines House, and at Somerset House before
that), there is the GRO office copy at Southport.

However, Chris Watts tells me that there was also an original set of books
at the PRO many years ago, and that he believes that there was also a 4th
set (possibly a master copy that didn't get thumbed and damaged).

So, it looks like the PRO copy was retyped many years ago, and filmed by the
LDS.

Where the PRO copy (and the putative master copy) are now is anybody's
guess, but as long as an image remains, all is not lost.

Interestingly, it has long been fabled that where a volume is retyped, the
original is retained, probably in the same secure storage where I guess the
master copy is kept.

Charani...

I hope you're right.

The typewritten pages come about when the original handwritten ones
get damaged or torn, I believe.

I'll write to Dave Mayall and get the process of entering the names
to FreeBMD going.

Dave Mayall...

Received, and many thanks for the offer!

I knew somebody out there would be able to find it.

Charani...

It'll be a big feather in FreeBMD's cap if they are the only source of
those missing names thanks to you :))

Just goes to show what can be achieved in this group :))