Please remind me

[Bellringer]

I have had to put my research on hold for a long time.
I have forgotten what the numbers at the side of the BDM indices stand for.
eg 9d 345
and how they can be used to relate to other entries.
Can anyone explain simply?

[Hammond Egg]

It's the volume and page number for Birth, Marriage and Death records.

If you were ordering a certificate, you'd need the year, quarter and registration office, too.

If you knew when a male relative was married, and you knew his wife's first name, you could (usually) trace her first name by accessing the page number on freebmd.org

[dot.hawkes]

the refernece numbers relating to the vol and page number on the GRO index does not however refer to the original entry in the registration district where the event was registered, they have a different set of references, but basically you can spot where an event took place geographically from the first number, anything with a 1 is london, moving up the country 8 is lanacashire/cheshire for example, the further North the higher the number.