RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: MacGrigor on Thursday 21 June 18 13:52 BST (UK)
-
Hello,
My 2x great-grandmother was born Caroline Emma Kearley. Her birth was registered in 1869. However, she gives her d.o.b. as 1868 on the 1939 register, and her burial gives her age as 88 in 1956. Is it possible her birth was registered a year late? What were the rules for registering a birth?
Thanks,
Adam
-
If the date in the 1939 is during December then her birth would probably have been registered in the following March quarter 1869. Is this her birth?
KEARLEY, CAROLINE EMMA WINCH
GRO Reference: 1869 M Quarter in UXBRIDGE Volume 03A Page 22
-
What are the dates? In the UK you have 42 days to register a birth so if she was born in late November or December she may not have been registered till the beginning of January and therefore appear in the following years register
Also there are some incorrect dates on the 1939 register, the day is usually right
-
Under the 1836 Act a birth could be registered up to six months after the birth
XXIII. And be it enacted, That after the Expiration of Six Calendar Months following the Birth of any Child it shall not be lawful for any Registrar to register the Birth of such Child, and no Register of Births, except in the Case of Children born at Sea, shall be given in Evidence to prove the Birth of any Child wherein it shall appear that Six Calendar Months have intervened between the Day of the Birth and the Day of the Registration of the Birth of such Child; and every Person who shall knowingly register or cause to be registered the Birth of any Child after the Expiration of Six Calendar Months following the Day of the Birth of such Child shall forfeit and pay for every such Offence a Sum not exceeding Fifty Pounds.
Stan
-
The 1939 register said the 3rd of January 1868. But the birth was registered in the same quarter 1869. I presumed the 1939 year was wrong but if she died aged 88 surely she was born in 1868.
-
Her burial is from April 1956.
-
There is always the possibility that she couldn't remember which year she was born and put down the wrong year. Not unknown.
-
Yes, quite possibly.
-
My paternal grandpa was unsure when he was born.....date, month and year all wrong on 1939 Register. He took some searching to find him! ::)
-
Yep. Ultimately without a birth certificate, no-one's birthday is certain. I've contacted Hillingdon Parish Church to see if they have a christening for her. Her parents married there in 1855.
-
If the church don't respond the local FHS might be able to help:
http://www.west-middlesex-fhs.org.uk/
-
Thanks!
-
I have a few on the 1939 register where the day and or month and or year of birth does not match their birth certificate.
Ed
-
Have you found her in the 1871 census, and if so, what's her age given as? (I looked but didn't spot her.)
My gut feeling is that the closer a census is to a child's birth, the more accurate the age is likely to be.
-
I haven't found them in 1871 :'(
-
1881 then? And what were her parents' full names, ages and birthplaces? (Also siblings)
I've found a family in Hillingdon in 1871 listed as Bailey with a Caroline aged 2 and mother Caroline, though the age doesn't exactly match the Caroline Winch in your signature.
-
They are in the 1871 census as KEALEY on Find My Past. Caroline is down using her second name of Emma.
Registration District is Uxbridge
Piece number 1308
Folio 10
Page 12
-
That looks better! (Indexed as Healey at The Genealogist) And Emma is listed as aged 2.
-
Is it possible that Caroline knew her birth date - 3rd of January would be in the first quarter of 1869 - but got her birthyear wrong?
-
Quite likely. In those days there wasn't the need to prove birth dates like there is today.
If you want to be certain then you can obtain her birth cert as a pdf which costs £6 instead of one at £9.25. These can be ordered from the GRO website:-
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp
-
Thanks. I've used the PDF service a couple of times now - I'm ordering two more on Saturday that I haven't been able to get from churches. I'm still waiting to hear back from a couple more before I order any more.
-
She wasn't the one giving the age or DOB when she died,so it's possible that whoever did so,wasn't 100% sure of the year,or just did the maths wrong.
-
True, but she wrote '68' on the 1939 Register! I reckon she just got the year wrong. That's the most likely scenario.