Genealogy Chat

I was born in 1975 and my parents had a son before I was born, which must of been around 1973 when they married. Apparently according to my father my mother went into a home to have him and he was born premature and died at birth. They named him, and apparently the home sorted out his burial. However, there is no record of his birth or his death in the indexes. Also, if my mother had him in a home then she must of been not married. So I searched before the marriage and still nothing. I have asked my dad on numerous occasions and he still keeps telling me the same thing. Has anyone got any views on this? Thx Nicola x

Nicola if he was stillborn then his birth would have been entered in a seperate register, you can find out information about the stillbirth register on this site. http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/ Georgina.

Do you think he could have been stillborn? If he was then the birth and death will not be in the indexes, but in the separate Stillborn register which unfortunately, only your parents can access. What makes you think that if he was born in a home, then your mother wasn't married? There were a lot of nursing homes at the time which were like mini maternity hospitals, and lots of women (married and single) used them. Kath. x

thank you for that georgina this researching is never easy is it lol I am assuming that there is no way that I will be able to search online for indexes of still births. I have no idea of date dad vague about it, and is pretty insistant. If he was buried as my dad said, then would there be anyway that I could find out about his burial. The home obviously is closed and I have no idea of the name, would there be a record of it somewhere. thx again Nicola

Hi kathleen, because I know that in the 60's and before if you gave birth in a home then it was more than likely you were unmarried. I have family member that it happened to thats why I thought maybe they might not of been at the time he was born. So if a still birth, then I wouldn't be able to access the record even though I am his sister?

Nicola because stillbirth is such a sensative subject only the parents of the child can apply for the birth certificate, if both parents are deceased then brothers or sisters can apply but you must provide proof that your parents have died. Not very helpful I know but if you go to the website I posted above and click on the Stillbirth link at the top everything is explained. Georgina.

yeh thx georgia I have just looked at it, I think I'm gonna have to ask my dad :) thx again Nicola x

As sister, you could only access the records after your parents were dead. If the baby was premature, this would be a reason for going into a nursing home - my mother-in-law had a premature baby in 1946, and went into a nursing home to have him - where he sadly died aged just 12 hours. If you knew the date of death, then you might find a burial record at the county records office. We found that my mother-in-law's baby was buried with a 2 year old girl who died at about the same time. Small babies were often buried in the coffin of someone else who was being buried at the time.. Kath. x

thx kathleen awwwwwwww thats so sad that these babies didn't even get a proper burial, I know my dad said he didn't know where they uried him. Nicola x

Nicola, a maternity or nursing home was a very common place to have babies right through the 70s and may be into the 80s! In the 50s, the first baby could be born in hospital, but succeeding children were born at home (unless there was a problem) ...... but mom could pay to have the baby in a private maternity/nursing home. I know because that is what happened when my nieces were born, and my brother and s-i-l were married. My husband was born in a maternity home in 1938, and his parents were most definitely married! Don't confuse maternity homes with unmarried mothers' homes!!!

I had my first child in a maternity home in 1968. Usually you had babies at home. However we were living with in laws so it was considered as overcrowding even though there were only 4 people including me living in a 4 bedroom home. I was definately married and still am to the same man. Margaret

thank you for that sylvia and margaret, am just wondering how many maternity homes might of been in gillingham as that is where he was born. I think I might have to pay a visit to the records office there and see if there are any records. thx again Nicola x