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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Beavances on Tuesday 11 June 19 14:11 BST (UK)

Title: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: Beavances on Tuesday 11 June 19 14:11 BST (UK)
When looking through the Free BMD registers I have come across two children born with the same surname, same mothers maiden name, born in the same quarter, same district, same volume but different pages ( one page 399 and one 409). 

Are these twins ? Or is it just a coincidence?  I 've always thought twins would be listed consecutively?
Title: Re: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: KGarrad on Tuesday 11 June 19 14:14 BST (UK)
Certainly my brother and I are on consecutive pages ;D
My daughters are on the same page.

So probably just a coincidence?
Try looking for other births with the same surname combination - or for marriages.
Title: Re: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: JayG on Tuesday 11 June 19 14:51 BST (UK)
I have twins registered in different quarters!

They were born at the end of June. One twin died shortly after birth, his birth and death appear in the June quarter.  The other twin died a week later, his birth and death appear in the September quarter.

There's no times on either of the births.

Jay
Title: Re: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: Beavances on Tuesday 11 June 19 16:09 BST (UK)
I am sorry to hear that JayG and I hope my post didn't stir difficult memories. Thank you though for the information about different records - and also KGarrad for the idea of searching for other marriages , I will do that shortly. The surnames are common so I now think it is probably two different families.
Title: Re: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: KGarrad on Tuesday 11 June 19 16:31 BST (UK)
I have twins registered in different quarters!

They were born at the end of June. One twin died shortly after birth, his birth and death appear in the June quarter.  The other twin died a week later, his birth and death appear in the September quarter.

There's no times on either of the births.

Jay

Time of birth for twins is usually recorded on the Birth Certificate - for inheritance purposes, and defining an heir.
If the first twin died shortly after birth, there would be no need to record a time?

Certainly true of my mum, and her stillborn twin.
Title: Re: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: LizzieL on Tuesday 11 June 19 16:35 BST (UK)
My grandfather's two sisters both married men with the surname Adams so I had a similar problem with two sets of children with same surname and same mother's maiden name born in same town. The two Adams men turned out to be unrelated to each other
Title: Re: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: avm228 on Tuesday 11 June 19 17:31 BST (UK)
When looking through the Free BMD registers I have come across two children born with the same surname, same mothers maiden name, born in the same quarter, same district, same volume but different pages ( one page 399 and one 409). 

Are these twins ? Or is it just a coincidence?  I 've always thought twins would be listed consecutively?

Are you absolutely sure it's not an error  - could 409 in fact be 400?  (Even the typed indexes contain some errors).
Title: Re: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: StevenG on Wednesday 12 June 19 08:36 BST (UK)
It's almost certain to be coincidence. Two different couples with the same mother's maiden name,

I've been doing a systematic study of Bedford district, and I frequently find entries like this, even on the same page from different families. In one case I found three unrelated children on a page, same surname and mother's maiden name. Sub-registration districts, which the indexes are ordered by, usually cover a small number of parishes, and if names are common in those parishes, these types of entry will cluster together.
Title: Re: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: louisa maud on Wednesday 12 June 19 09:17 BST (UK)
My brother and I were born 2 hours apart across midnight, nowhere are we registered as twins

Louisa Maud
Title: Re: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: zetlander on Wednesday 12 June 19 09:34 BST (UK)
My aunt had quadruplets - all boys.  Two boys were born on May 31 and two boys on June 1. They were live births but all four sadly died shortly afterwards.  My aunt also died.  My uncle had the difficult task of registering four live births followed by registering the deaths of the four babies and his wife.
I think all four births were registered in the order of birth and the deaths in the order they died - which wasn't the same as the birth order.
Title: Re: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: Jebber on Wednesday 12 June 19 09:39 BST (UK)
My brother and I were born 2 hours apart across midnight, nowhere are we registered as twins

Louisa Maud


Your different birth dates would make it obvious which was the elder, so there would be no need to register the time of birth as is usual with twins.
Title: Re: Twins registered on BMD
Post by: Beavances on Wednesday 12 June 19 19:39 BST (UK)
I checked the marriages and found there was another couple in the same town with same surnames - they married just two years before my couple so definitely likely to be having babies around the same time. I also check in the 1939 and found my couple only have one redacted name so am now of the opinion it was just coincidence.
Thanks to all for your input and ideas.