Birth certificate error/whoopsie

[JennyMarieGradwell]

Here's something I've never seen before.... There was a delay in dispatch, and the accompanying letter had a handwritten note to say it was a direct copy of the record, so I'm assuming this means "don't blame us!"

Is this sort of error common?

[KGarrad]

Some years ago, my mother needed a full birth certificate in order to get a passport. (She only had a short version)

The certificate duly arrived:
Names: Joyce Cicely.
Sex: Boy

A replacement certificate was duly sent - but I still have both certificates.


Your error is still there on the GRO Indexes:

GRADWELL, MATTHEW        WOLSTENHOLME        
GRO Reference: 1847  S Quarter in MANCHESTER  Volume 20  Page 751

But you have to search for Females!

[JennyMarieGradwell]

Some years ago, my mother needed a full birth certificate in order to get a passport. (She only had a short version)

The certificate duly arrived:
Names: Joyce Cicely.
Sex: Boy

A replacement certificate was duly sent - but I still have both certificates.


Your error is still there on the GRO Indexes:

GRADWELL, MATTHEW        WOLSTENHOLME        
GRO Reference: 1847  S Quarter in MANCHESTER  Volume 20  Page 751

But you have to search for Females!

Well now, this explains a lot about how I haven't been able to find records! From now on I'll be liberal about using the gender option! 

[AntonyMMM]

Assuming you got the certificate from the register office (not GRO), then it would be a direct copy from the actual  entry. They are just making sure you don't think they have copied it wrongly when producing the certificate !

So probably the original entry was wrong and never corrected -  if the parents didn't pay for a full certificate they would never have been aware of the error.

Even if the error had been spotted later by the registrar, making a correction would be a complicated process so they wouldn't/couldn't do it automatically.

OR possibly there was some issue over the gender of the child - which is more common than you may imagine (GRO have a section in the manual for that).

I have a similar one where the sex (and name of the child) was corrected when the child was about 11 years old.

[Nanna52]

Or the parents could have been contrary.  I have heard of a distant cousin, Vincent, apparently she was a lovely lady.  The mother's surname at birth was Vincent and I guess they wanted to carry it on.

[JennyMarieGradwell]

I did get the certificate from GRO, but there was a delay in producing it, and a note to say it was a direct copy of the record. Matthew Gradwell went on to marry an Alice Gillibrand and have four children so I'm guessing it was an error when it was registered

[groom]

I suppose years ago, when people weren't always being asked for identification, birth certificates weren't so important, so it didn't matter so much.

Presumably in these days, when you are asked by the registrar  to check if everything is correct, the certificate can be changed before it is issued, it could cause a lot of complications in later life otherwise?

[Marmalady]

If you got the copy from the GRO, then that is a copy from the original in the local Registrars book

It might be worth contacting the local Registrar to see what their entry says -- it could be a mistake on original registration or it could be a mistake when sending copies to the GRO

[AntonyMMM]

If you got it from GRO you should check with the local office, although it may be that GRO did that themselves because of the discrepancy before issuing it (which they occasionally do)  - hence the delay.

GRO certs are taken from the quarterly return copies of registers, not the originals.