Genealogy Chat

A little advice needed please. My gg grandfather's surname was Noel but I have evidence to suggest he previously went by the name of Chambers. In 1862 he joined the army under the name of Chambers and family oral history and census records seem to suggest he was bought up by a man named Chambers who was not his father. In 1864 my gg grandfather married and his name is Noel on his marriage certificate. Please could any one advise me. Was it a legal requirement at the time to provide evidence of identity i.e. a birth certificate when a person married? If this is the case it may explain why my gg grandfather is is going by the name of Noel by the time his was married i.e. he discovered his real name was Noel when required to produce a birth certificate at his marriage. Does anyone have any advice/thoughts on the matter or has anyone come across anything similar. Because of my uncertainty over which surname appeared on this birth certificate I have been unable to trace this document so far

Hi It is possible that his birth was never registered, it wasn't compulsary until 1875. You didn't need to produce a birth certificate to get married either (otherwise those unregistered ones would have never been able to get married!) My GGG Grandfather was born as Richard Bradshaw in 1859(illegitimate) but then took the name of his mothers new husband (Frost). By the time he married in 1884, he had reverted back to Bradshaw and stayed that way until he died. Sam x

You can call yourself by any name you wish, as long as it isn't for fraudulent purposes. Kath. x

My Great Great Grandads name changed from Douglas to Dagless because he was a Quaker who had to go into the army and because it was against his religion to fight he changed his name. How this is done I've no idea!!!

Stella But how did changing his name stop him going into the Army? I don't understand! If he did not respond to his call-up papers, the MPs would have been round looking for him, and no matter what his name was, they would have taken him anyway, assuming he was a fit man. Many Quakers were conscientous objectors, and as such were treated quite leniently by the authorities - he would have had to do some sort of war work, but would not have been forced to go into the Army. And the name change from Douglas to Daglass wouldnt really fool anyone. A mystery! I too have instances of people being born in one name, growing up in another name and then reverting back to the first, in adulthood. I wonder if they were perhaps brought up by a Stepfather who they thought was their real father, didnt like him much and when they found out the truth, went back to their original name to spite him! OC

Could it be that when he was planning to marry, his mother decided to tell him who his father was, so that he married under that name, as opposed to that of the man with whom he had lived whilst growing up.............. Does the marriage cert have any info about the groom's father? Reg

My father was given away not legally adopted and used the family name of the couple who took him in.When he married he reverted to his birth name as on his certificate. Marie

Hi Rachel, I go along with Sam here - my great grandfather doesn't seem to have been registered at his birth in 1868 but his subsequent marriage was registered. I have another ancestor who was born with one name then went to live with the next door neighbours at the age of one. He took their surname eventually and married with it - a real surprise to my mum to discover that her maiden name should have been something different!

I have a number of unofficially adopted kids in census returns. When a woman remarried and took children with her they just naturally over time took the new dads name. However I have noted that on marriage or joining the army they would always revert to their birth name.

I reverted to my maiden name of Maudesley when I divorced, so when i started my family tree i started with my grandfather, John Maudesley. I could not find him anywhere on the 1901 census, but some kind person on this site found him for me. His name had been mistransposed as Mauderley......Good, I thought now I can get started......Oh dear no.....You name a brick wall and I came nose to nose with it.......But then I remembered his mother married twice and I had a lot of info about his stepfather, so, I went down that path. She married a George Massie but on the marriage cert. it said...She was Mary Roberts, widow, formerly, Mawdesley....Bingo...I had found her. So, it seems granddad should have been John Roberts, and in fact so should I. We think he changed his name from Roberts to Maudesley when he ran away from home and joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders hopeing to not be found by his stepdad as he was underage at the time of joining up..........Yes, George Massie did find him had him released and took him home where he ran away again. This time......no, the story is far too long, maybe I will write a book !!!! Kathlyn