Genealogy Chat

I have been searching for a brother and two sisters born between 1913 and 1920 - have looked 1900 to 1925 cost me a fortune ! Found one of them born end of 1919 in a totally different place to where expected. Fortunately they had an uncommon surname, mothers maiden name also unusual. Found one but no trace of the other two, can only assume mother moved around the war was on and somehow they were never registered. Sue.

My grandfather was born in Feb 1908.....and was registered at the end of Oct 1908! Being new to this, I had trouble finding him. Wasn't surprised though as my father went through life putting Chobham as his place of birth only to find he wasnt on record when he applied for a birth cert when he wanted a passport - he was born in a totally different place!

I would have thought that most people did it "right" in those days. Most people did most things right in those days.

Hi to all, Helen, after reading your notes, interesting, it makes me wonder if this is the reason why I cannot find my G / G Grandfather's brother on the GRO index. The family had by word of mouth a date of 25 October 1852, Liverpool as his birth date and place of birth. We have tried again and again about everything possible trying to find his b.c., with nothing to show for our effort ...... We do know, because records show, my G / G / G Grandparents never married until 1871, ... 19 years on from 1852. ..... We have not located them (yet !) on the 1861 Census, but have found them on the 1871, as Husband and Wife, before they married in the July of that year. ......After reading your notes, it seems that they were perhaps a little slow on the marriage lines, ......... would they have forgotten, I wonder,.... or just left it to late to register the birth (which we have yet to find!). I have not been researching into my family for very long and were wondering where to look next regarding the 1852 birthdate. Your notes have given us an alternative answer to ponder over. Many Thanks, Regards J.C.

Giles I don't know how you would be able to tell. If little Fred was born (say) Feb 10th and not registered until August, unless the informant gave correct date of birth who would know? And you would only know when you ordered the cert if the birth date was much earlier. I know this is not of use to you, but so far all my relatives have been registered within a few weeks of birth (presuming they were telling the truth about their date of birth)! H.

Thanks for the info, Helen! How often did this happen? Was it only a small percentage of cases? How efficient was the system in 1907? If some parents were registering birth after 6 weeks then maybe I should be checking the first (3) quarters, let alone just the (1st) quarter!!! :) Would anyone like to give a probability of somebody born in February, not appearing until the 2nd quarter or even the 3rd quarter index?

Giles This is from http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm a brilliant website about BMD certificates. "In the early days the parents had 3 weeks to register in and could not register at all after 3 months. After a while this was changed to 6 weeks to register in, a late registration could be made up to a year after the birth if the superintendent took the information and signed the register too, and registration could not take place after 1 year without reference to GRO. Once the delay was this long then proof of the event had to be provided by other parties who knew of this event eg midwife or doctor or siblings alive at the time and able to recall the event. Even now, if it is not possible to provide the proof and/or the people who can attest to the truth of the event it is not possible to register and there are people walking around today with no birth certificate. It means, therefore, that a birth registered very late could be in the indexes a whole year later or more than expected. It is also relevant in that there were penalties for late registrations that were quite severe in the beginning and rather than get into trouble parents would "adjust" the date of birth to fall within the specified time for registration. If you have a discrepancy between a date of birth on a certificate and one given on a baptismal certificate, have a look at the date of registration. If it is very close to the six weeks, it is quite likely that the parents didn't tell the truth at registration but did at baptism where there were no penalties. There were no checks on the dates of birth until well into this century." Helen

I don't think the 6-week rule applied back then - someone experienced on here will know when it was brought in. Some of my ancestors were registered several months after their births. Mandy :)

Quite likely! The period for registration is about 6 weeks but that didn't deter some of my lot from taking their time. Also the registers had to be sent off the the GRO so if they were delayed getting there they might appear in the wrong quarter. They were supposed to be added in pen at the bottom of the correct page but again, that doesn't mean thay always were.

If somebody is born between January 1st - February 14th 1907, what chance is there of that person not appearing until the April - June index?