Previously Unheard of Half-sister

[maryalex]

What surname was your Mum using at the time?

Her maiden name was Malley or O'Malley.  Those surnames seem to have been used interchangeably.  [A less common variant which two of her uncles sometimes used was Melia.]

[maryalex]

This is a link to the Oldham Still birth register

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-21599-84410-46?cc=1482833&wc=M6G4-XNL:50862801,51103301

Heather

Thank you.

[lizdb]

I see a Melia birth (girl, I wont give name as may be alive still) , with mothers maiden name also Melia, in OCt/NOv/Dec 1933 , Manchester, ref 8d 681

Has that one been ruled out?

If the baby was taken from her soon after birth (to be adopted) then although she may have privately called her Eileen, perhaps the baby may not have been registered as such.

[maryalex]

But if it is true the baby lived for 3 days , then it would not be a still birth.
If the baby took even one breath, then it would not be.
I would have thought that , if the story that the baby died is true (rather then adopted) then one would expect to find a birth reg and a death reg.

Yes.  I asked the GRO to look for a record of a stillbirth just to rule out that possibility.  I thought it possible that if my mother had written home saying that the baby had been born dead, the story may have come down to us in an altered form.

[maryalex]

I see a Melia birth (girl, I wont give name as may be alive still) , with mothers maiden name also Melia, in OCt/NOv/Dec 1933 , Manchester, ref 8d 681

Has that one been ruled out?

If the baby was taken from her soon after birth (to be adopted) then although she may have privately called her Eileen, perhaps the baby may not have been registered as such.

That is one of the births I have looked at.  It has not been ruled out entirely but does not seem likely.  My mother herself never used the surname Melia and I would expect a more typically Irish forename e.g. Margaret - see below.

I have only obtained two "wrong" certificates so far, one birth certificate and one death certificate..  I hesitated before sending for them because the surname was Melia rather than Malley/O'Malley, because both events were registered in 1936 rather than in 1932/1933/1934 and because the death was registered in the quarter before the birth.  However, both events were registered in Oldham.

It turned out that Margaret Melia was born on 17 Sep 1936 in Boundary Park Municipal Hospital and died on 18 Sep in the same hospital.  The death ws registered on 19 Sep by somebody whose qualification was "causing the body to be buried".  On 6 Oct 1936, the mother informed the registrar of the birth.

I decided that the money spent on those certificates was not completely wasted.  I now know that babies could be born in Boundary Park Municipal Hospital [whose records are held at Oldham Local Studies & Archives] and that a death can be registered in one quarter and the birth in the next.

I found out from Google that 24% of births in England in 1932 took place in hospital. 

[finding skeletons]

That is one of the births I have looked at.  It has not been ruled out entirely but does not seem likely.  My mother herself never used the surname Melia and I would expect a more typically Irish forename e.g. Margaret - see below.

I have only obtained two "wrong" certificates so far, one birth certificate and one death certificate..  I hesitated before sending for them because the surname was Melia rather than Malley/O'Malley, because both events were registered in 1936 rather than in 1932/1933/1934 and because the death was registered in the quarter before the birth.  However, both events were registered in Oldham.

It turned out that Margaret Melia was born on 17 Sep 1936 in Boundary Park Municipal Hospital and died on 18 Sep in the same hospital.  The death ws registered on 19 Sep by somebody whose qualification was "causing the body to be buried".  On 6 Oct 1936, the mother informed the registrar of the birth.

I decided that the money spent on those certificates was not completely wasted.  I now know that babies could be born in Boundary Park Municipal Hospital [whose records are held at Oldham Local Studies & Archives] and that a death can be registered in one quarter and the birth in the next.

I found out from Google that 24% of births in England in 1932 took place in hospital.

If the child allegedly died then I' be surprise to find her on the stillbirths register. I think you need to search the actual GRO indexes, since from experience I know that there are huge gaps in FreeBMD. Also, she could well have been born at home or in Oldham Royal Infirmary.

[brigidmac]

 she may have got her daughter baptised   
i supposed you've checked diff spellings

My grandma was registered at birth by her single mother in 1899
1st name Maisie middle name was actually the father's surname  had mother's Roberts at regitration

I nearly missed her babtism record because it was Massie Miriam Roberts

on census 1901 she was  May Roberts boarder   with hallis family

but by 1911 she was Maisie Hallis  (adoptive daughter ...tho unofficial)

this is the name she used til she married with the middle name Miriam ...she may only have known her baptised middle name much later when trying to trace her birth mother ; she knew she had a younger half-brother but we don't know what her mother's married name was so couldn't trace him or his children !

so my suggestion is find the baptism records of the nearest parishes to the birth place + check all possibilities around those dates ..

easier if you have an exact birthdate
.
there won't be many without father's name given

.could  a  married couple have baptised the baby  as theirs ? How many pages of baies would that be ?
 
Good luck with your search

[josey]

Her maiden name was Malley or O'Malley. 

Were there any checks on a registrant's name - I wondered if a false name could have been used for registrations at that time?

[Lisajb]

[/quote]

Suds,
I have already gone through the procedure [in my capacity as a sibling].  The GRO could not find any record of a stillbirth from 1931 to 1933.  Their reply included the information that there would be no registration if the birth took place before the 28th week of pregnancy or if the birth was not registered within three months.
[/quote]

If before 28 weeks of pregnancy, it would be regarded as a miscarriage.