Genealogy Chat

I have come across what I think is a case of a birth registered twice. The child was born in 1895 & the mother married very soon after. I believe I have one registration under the mothers maiden name & shortly after, another registration under her married name. I have only just come across this, & haven't gone down the route of getting certs for the 2 entries yet. The speed with which the marriage took place after the birth strongly suggests the husband was the biological father, & I am aware that it was not unusual for couples to marry not long after a birth. Have othesr come across many examples of births being registered more than once?

Are the GRO refs different ?

Hi Shirley, The references are for different lines on the same page of the birth index if that is what you are asking. If it isn't what you mean can you clarify please?

Julie, Shirley means the ref numbers I think.
Might be an idea to tell us which births these are so people can have a look.
Jan

Hi Jan, Shirley, got interrupted in keeping an eye on this thread. The entries are for Sarah Elizabeth Cunnington & Sarah Elizabeth Cliff Q2 1895 @ Holbeach Lincs. The references on genes are both for Page 433 Vol 7a, lines 52 & 149

The GRO birth index doesn't have lines........it has pages

You would be much better off using freebmd for BMD info

Births Jun 1895 (>99%)
Cliff Sarah Elizabeth Holbeach 7a 433
Cunnington Sarah Elizabeth Holbeach 7a 433

433 is the Page number

The only way to learn more is to order copy cert(s)

before anyone looks at census records..........look at this, for background

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/ancestors/thread/1347172

Jacqueline, yes I am already resigned to needing copies of the certs, my question really centred on whether others had come across births being registered twice & thus how common or uncommon this might have been historically.

Very common, where children were born before marriage, and then re-registered to reflect the fact that the marriage had taken place

However, in this instance, it's entirely possible that the GRO index is just showing that two surnames are on the birth cert, and that there is actually only one entry

There is an uneven number of entries for the Page...........and that is not the norm.

Don't order both as it will probably be the same certificate.
I have one where there is a father's name on the certificate and also the mothers maiden name. This appears in the index as two entries.

KenSE/Jaqueline - thanks for the tips, I would have been annoyed if I'd paid twice for the same cert.

Further to and in support of KenSE’s comment, herewith an extract from a GRO response to my queries - in 2005:-



In column 4 'Name and surname of Father' is Dxxxxxxxx. In column 5 the Mother's surname is recorded as Wxxx. I can confirm that the child Mary can be known as surnames 'Dxxxxxxxx or Wxxx'.

When a child is registered in either/or surname at an entry then BOTH
surnames are entered into the indexes.

As a gesture of goodwill I have arranged a full refund of £7.00. This will
be reimbused to your credit/debit card shortly via our service provider
World Pay.

Regards,

Yvonne Forshaw
Public Relations Unit.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Would it be helpful to ask for a 'Search' rather than buying the two certificates.

You would need to have at least one of the parent's names and pay £9.25 which will be reimbursed if the certificate is not the one required. You could do a search on both. Telephone the GRO for this service.

If it is not correct, they send an email with a refund (as above).

I would order just one using either of the surnames.
When you get the cert, you'll see it has a parent with each of the 2 surnames.
The parents won't be married to each other, but the father has agreed to be named as the father. Since there's 2 surnames on the b.cert, and there's no saying which will be used, there's 2 entries in the index, each pointing to the same b.cert.

My ggg gran had 4 illegitimate births: the first 3 were known by their father's surnames, but she had a row with the father of # 3, so when #4, his son, was born, she gave him her surname, so there were 2 full brothers with difft surnames for 16 y. The parents reconciled and were wed, but the youngest son had gotten so used to using his mum's surname that he only adopted his dad's surname in a double-barrelled appendage..

Incidentally, since the parents were both free to marry when the youngest 2 were born, those 2 became legitimate upon their parents' marriage.

Just because there's 2 index entries pointing to the same cert, it doesn't mean the event was registered twice. If someone married, say Vincent van Gogh, I would bet the GRO would index the guy twice, so you'ld see:

Marriages Dec 1895
Gogh Vincent Van Truro 5c 313
Smith Mary Truro 5c 313
Van Gogh Vincent Truro 5c 313

It wouldn't mean that Mary had wed 2 guys.