Genealogy Chat

i have my gt gt grandads birth certificate.it has his time of birth on it so i know that he must have had a twin.if the twin was stillborn then the time wouldnt have been added.but my problem is i cant find a birth or death for that twin. can anyone advice what to do next please. lol susie

How frustrating!! I would contact the register office to ask them.

Susie Dont' want to burst your bubble, but some registrars added time of birth anyway, regardless of whether or not there were twins. I suppose the next step is to see if you can find baptism or burial of a possible twin.

Are you sure he was a twin I have birth certificates with times on and know they are not twins Julie

marion thats wat hubby said lol. i think that is my only option. susie

hi julie and helen i was surprised when i saw the time. but i have been on a website that gives info on certs and they said that the time is only recorded if living twins are born lol http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/births.htm#HEAD im confused now lol it doesnt bother me if he was a twin or not cos ive got plenty already lol susie

Hi Susie Just looked at some birth cserts I have. On the five I looked at all brothers and sisters 1880-1890 the time of birth is recorded on them all. The site you looked at surely cant be right or I have a lot more ancestors than I thought. lol Julie

julie lol,thanks hun at least i dont have to spend hours searching for non existent rellies lol

Hi, I think you missed this bit at the end of the entry on the clara.net website: 'Having said that, again the early registrations are not consistent. The registrar in the Eton district did not put the times of births of twins in the registers at all until 1845 while the one in Stoke-on-Trent put times against all the registrations up until about 1850. It is possible to check for twins by looking for identical or consecutive GRO references in the indexes.' As you see, Clara has given a couple of examples of registrars who didn't follow the rules correctly and I'm sure there were many more. The advice to check for GRO refs of possible twins should solve the problem of whether or not there was a twin.

hi judith yes i did miss that bit my gt gt grandad was born in bucks,reg district was wycombe. i cant fnd another birth at all so i think it must have been the regisrars mistake lol susie

Hi Susie It sometimes is'nt the case..that it is twins I went and collected a Birth Cert from the Register Office.. The Time was included.. He was not a Twin.. The Registrar was just efficent and every Birth he had registered he had asked for the time of the Birth.. The registrar had told me this when she handed the cert over.. Worth ringing the Registrars.. It just might be that.. I also have another one with the time on and he is a Twin.. So the time thing does'nt neccessarily mean that it was a Twin Birth.. Mo

Hi All, In Scotland all births are recorded in the Registry Office with time of birth!! Betty

What about this scenario.... 'Someone' lets call her Mrs X presents herself to register the birth/s (it need not have been a parent and in this case it isn't) Mrs X....I want to register my neighbours twins. Registrar.....Fills out first cert and register with time of birth then asks for second child's name. Mrs X....Oh they didn't name him/her 'cause he/she was dead. Registrar.....Huffs/Puffs at the poor woman's stupidity at wasting his time and hands over the original certificate which may or not be amended but forgets to amend the main register. Just an idea Chris

hi chris oooh i hadnt thought of that. it is a copy of the original in registrars hand writing. he was born on 18th july 1850 and the birth was registered on 24th august by his mother. i reckon that she might have wanted the birth time recorded so that she didnt forget lol. thankyou for replying . susie

Susie I didn't add that the informant would have needed to be someone 1. Present at the birth 2. The owner or occupier of the house or institution where the birth took place. 3. The person in charge of the child. Just adding this info for completeness :) Chris