Same birth registered twice - 6 years apart!!!

[halfasheep]

Really odd one guys. I will be getting both certs later this week, but would like some thoughts on this. No names though given that people are alive.

Just started my step-daughter's tree today (she's 15, it's her biological father's side - he has no contact). Her paternal grandfather popped over and gave as much detail as he could and it's allowed me to jump back a few generations on his dad's side, but he said his mum never talked about her family.

He mentioned that his parents had a daughter a few years older than him, but she was put up for adoption.

His mum was married previously, and he has a few older half-brothers. One is still alive.

I searched for his birth - found it - then did the normal search under both parents surnames just in case his sister's birth was there (I know adoptions aren't, but I was hoping it might not have been a formal adoption).

This is the odd but. His birth is there in 1962, but the exact same details are registered in 1968 too - his combination of names, combined with his parents surnames, strikes me as way more than a coincidence.

Looking for their marriage, I found it in 1968. I have possibly found a marriage for his father in 1959 that he isn't aware of, but to a completely different woman!!!!

Any thoughts? I haven't discussed it with him, and he clearly isn't aware of any of this.

I can't imagine that he's six years younger than he thinks he is, but I'm at a loss as to a rational explanation

[groom]

Looking for their marriage, I found it in 1968.

Looks to me as if the birth was re-registered after his parent's marriage.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-to-re-register-a-childs-birth-following-marriage-of-natural-parents

[halfasheep]

Well you learn something new every day!!!

I didn't realise you could do that. I considered it, but thought it would just sort of overwrite the original birth cert - my stepfather adopted me, so my original birth registration doesn't exist in its original form

[groom]

I doubt if there would be two certificates, just the second registration which probably refers back to the original. Is there anything written next to it on the image (not the transcription)

My nephew's partner has a similar thing and next to the original has a handwritten added amendment of /A7185/D85.

[Jebber]

There are differences between a reregistration and a case where a step  father adopts the wife's child, and when the biological parents marry some time after a birth is registered, then it is simply a case of legitimising the child so the names remain the same.

[Gadget]

I've come across 3 in my family:

2 when my great uncle adopted his wife's children by a previous marriage  and one where a distant cousin was re-registered after his parents were married.

Gadget

[mckha489]

My mother's birth was registered 3 weeks after the first registration.  Place of birth is the only difference. There is a note in the margin on one of them, but I was able to purchase both certificates no problem.

[halfasheep]

Thanks all - I looked at the scans of the register on FreeBMD, and the 1962 birth has a handwritten note against it with a different number.

Not come across that at all in 13 years of doing my own tree, then up it pops in the first hour of starting someone else's!

Always appreciate the help on here. Thanks again guys

[AntonyMMM]

Be careful not to confuse re-registration, which can only be done in certain specific circumstances (although it is quite common), and the entirely different processes around adoption, which involve new entries in the Adopted Children's Register, and are not re-registrations.

I didn't realise you could do that. I considered it, but thought it would just sort of overwrite the original birth cert - my stepfather adopted me, so my original birth registration doesn't exist in its original form

Re-registration of children a couple have had together after they later marry is actually now a legal requirement, not just an option, although many couples don't realise and never get around to it.

Your original birth registration (as for any adopted person) certainly does exist in its original form - the only change will be the word "adopted" added in the margin by the Supt. Registrar.

My mother's birth was registered 3 weeks after the first registration.  Place of birth is the only difference. There is a note in the margin on one of them, but I was able to purchase both certificates no problem.

That sounds more like a correction, which is yet another process - it shouldn't have been a re-registration unless of course the corrected place of birth was in a different district.