One Child, Two Baptisms?

[SonofSussex]

I've run into a curious problem while researching a man named Richard Pollitt.  I have found his marriage record and, based on his age at that time, Richard must have been born around 1755.  I have now found two people named Richard Pollitt, both born in 1756 and both baptised in St. Peter's church, one on October 4 and the other on November 5.  But then I noticed that in both cases the father's name was Miles Pollitt who lived in Darcy Lever.  I don't know what to make of this.  Can anyone help?

[Rena]

Have a look at this Genuki St. Peters webpage.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Bolton/StPeter

Unless I'm mistaken, the survivig records for that year are Bishops Transcripts, and not the original church records, which would have been copied by the local vicar and sent to the Bishopric for them to record in their books.  Maybe it's a duplicated entry?

[Jebber]

Most likely the child was born sickly and thought may die, so baptised privately at home. The second entry would be received into the church when he survived.

[familydar]

The order of the baps in Oct and the uniformity of the handwriting suggests that (in part at least) the register was written up after the event, from loose slips of paper perhaps.  So perhaps only one baptism, but confusion over when exactly it took place.  Is the image of the PR or the BT?  Sight of the other might make things clearer.  I've just read Rena's post.

BUT

According to timeanddate.com, in 1756 the Sundays in October were 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31.  I'm surprised there are very few baps on any of these dates.  Could the numbers relate to age in days rather than bap date?

Does anyone else seem to appear twice?

Jane :-)

[SonofSussex]

I've been away from the computer for a couple of days so am just catching up with the replies.  Thank you all for the comments/suggestions.  Yes, I was thinking I was dealing with only one child but I could not understand the two baptism dates.  The possible explanations make complete sense.

[ozranga]

my mum was baptised twice. her parents had her christened C of E, then her grandmother secretely took her & she was baptised Rc. Later in life she converted from C of E to RC

[SonofSussex]

Interesting, but I don't think that explains this situation.  In this case (assuming we are in fact dealing with one child), both baptisms occurred in the same church.

[brephy]

My great grandfather was one of twins One died at 17hours and they were both baptized on same day of birth.  The other was baptized again a couple of months later. People believed then that the babies would not go to heaven if not baptized.  Perhaps the 2nd was thanks for the life or maybe the family wanted a ceremony where other members of the family could attend.