Find Ancestors

I'm sightly confused, can you confirm that you have your fathers original birth certificate,

His birth parents will not be named on his adoption certificate which replaced his original birth cert.

Roy

Kerry, Census's are basicaly a survey of the entire population and done every ten years

Electoral register is a list of all those registered to and eligable to vote in a particular area and the register is updated every year

Roy

Yes, they certainly are different!

The ER is filled in every year by every household in the UK with the names of people entitled to vote. Or at least it SHOULD be!

The census is a record of every person in the country - regardless of age etc.

Contact the relevant library - if they do not hold the ER, they should be able to tell you where it is - usually the County Records Office

Was the address given on your father's birth cert actually a private dwelling?

Who registered his birth?

You say the his 'parents' were named on the cert..................so you know his father's name.

.............have you looked to see if the parents married?

Thank you for your help, I will look to do both of those things and see where it takes me!

Is the electoral register different to the census? I didn't realise that you could access such records post 1911 until the next date of release every ten years. As I say I'm new to this so apologies for my confusion and the questions!

:-)

Another thought:

As you know the address where your father was born it might be worth checking to see who was registered to vote at that address just before and just after your father's birth.

That information will appear on the electoral register for the period. You are most likely to be able to find a copy of the relevant ER's either at the main public library or archive office in the area the ER covered.

Good luck.

I would start by writing to Barnardos and give them as much information as you have. I'm not sure whether or not they will be able to help but it seems as good a place to start as any given the fact that you will not be able to access your father's adoption file.

Kath. x

Kerry,

Firstly welcome to the boards. I am sorry to have to advise you that once an adoptee such as your father dies their adoption records are sealed and are not released to anyone even if a relative of them.

My advice would initially be to extend the area where your fathers siblings if he had any were born. Although he was born in Paddington they may have been born elsewhere. If you have his original birth certificate and both parents are named then look to see if you can find a marriage for them. It might be worth looking even beyond your fathers birth date as they may have had their children before actually marrying.

Hi,
As a new member to genes reunited I'm hoping that someone can help me start my journey!
So, my father was born 1951 and I believe around age 2 he was taken into care to Bernados, as I understand from him were his siblings also. He was always very keen to trace his birth parents and siblings and obtained his original birth certificate with his birth parents names on. My dad always vowed that he wouldn't search for his parents all the while his adopted parents were alive out of respect but, unfortunately he did then pass away just 1 month after my nan at just age 48.

I am now very keen to learn more about his family history, but I am not quite sure how to start! As he is deceased I am not sure if I am able to request his adoption papers? I have looked up births of the same name the 10 years previous at paddington, his place of birth, to see if I can find other siblings births but none match to the parents names.

I believe his father was Irish, so I don't know if there are any records I can check for his birth but of course I have no date of birth for him or even an approximate age.

I have visited the address on his birth certificate but unfortunately the side of the road his house was on is now a university campus!

I would love to hear any thoughts that anyone is willing to give me!
Thanks,
kerry :-D