are the birth indexes infallable?

[kengland]

in the family bible my gggrandfather is listed as being born on the 19 oct 1844 in n grimsby, this is not in the birth indexes, i have found a richardson england, 1845, sculcoates. and a richard england,1843, louth. are the birth indexes infalable? must one of these be my richard?

[janan]

Hi,
Are there any births in the right area and  date given as 'male', no first name?
 I had trouble finding one of my ancestors for that reason.
Regards Jan

[Hackstaple]

The birth date in your bible is probably correct. Registration was required from 1837 but failure to do so was not punishable before 1873. However, the index at 1837online - which is the only "complete" birth index is indexed by quarters.  If your ancestor was registered promptly then the index would show him as being registered in the December quarter of 1844. If they registered him after 1st January then he would be in the index as registered Mar 1845.
Is it the official GRO index that you have searched?

[kengland]

i looked in the family records center in london. i checcked all the quarters for 1843, 44 and 45, there were some males listed in 1845 but i figured that they would only be listed as 'male' if they hadn't been named yet, if he was born in oct 1844 and had been registered late, he would surely have been named already?

[Heather D]

Just a thought, but it strikes me that the Dec 1843 entry for Louth is a real possibility as there is a place called Little Grimsby which falls under the Louth registration area.