RootsChat.Com
Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: zetlander on Friday 09 October 20 19:09 BST (UK)
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Would a certificate have been issued to the parents of a stillborn baby born in 1942?
If the event had to be certified in 1942 are the certificates held locally or/and in the Central Registry?
Could I apply for copy of the certificate - the parents of the child were my uncle and aunt?
Are details - possible cause of stillbirth? - recorded on the certificate and would place of burial be included. Thanks.
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The Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1926 made stillbirths registerable from 1st July 1927, the only regulation prior that date was within the 1874 requirement for a declaration of stillbirth to be obtained.
There is no index of names of stillbirths (since 1st July 1927) available for researchers, and no copy of the certificate issued on registration of the stillbirth is allowed to be made apart from exceptional circumstances, e.g., medical/genetic. In such cases a copy is available at the discretion of the Registrar General.
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difficult question
- if a baby sadly dies almost immediately after being born is it classed a stillbirth and what if a very premature baby sadly dies soon after being born is that a stillbirth.
Or are babies who may only live a few minutes registered as Births and then registered as Deaths?
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If the child is born alive and dies shortly afterwards - how can it be a stillbirth? If it only lives for 30 seconds - it is a live birth
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I am pretty sure if a baby has breathed it is a live birth.
Then named a neonatal death.
Only if the baby did not draw breath is it a stillbirth.
Not sure what certificates would be issued.
Viktoria.
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Pregnancy beyond 20 weeks and not drawing a spontaneous breath would qualify as a still birth (from 1992 the pregnacy has to go beyond 24 weeks). Any child which draws a spontaneous breath is classed as a live birth and should be registered in the usual way and appear in the bmd index.
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Would a certificate have been issued to the parents of a stillborn baby born in 1942?
If the event had to be certified in 1942 are the certificates held locally or/and in the Central Registry?
Could I apply for copy of the certificate - the parents of the child were my uncle and aunt?
Are details - possible cause of stillbirth? - recorded on the certificate and would place of burial be included. Thanks.
Though a certificate may not be available ( I am not au fait with regulations about issuing of certificates etc) I do know that 'some' burial registers for cemeteries include those of still born babies.
see this quite recent thread for an example
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=837679.msg7030657#msg7030657
If you know the area where the still birth may have happened it would be worth a shot looking on Family Search to see if a local cemetery's still births register may be available.
Boo
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The causes are listed if known, but even today 50% of stillbirths are of unknown causes
My personal theory is that whatever causes sudden infant death causes a lot of the unexplained stillbirths
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thanks - it's a complicated area.
If a baby is born not breathing the medics will immediately get to work to get the baby breathing.
It must be difficult if things go wrong to work out whether the baby had spontaneously breathed or whether it was the efforts of the medics which gave the impression the baby had breathed spontaneously.
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Certs are issued by GRO , you need to give as much info as possible, they have separate registers
Louise Maud
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Stillbirths can be caused by trauma such as the placenta detaching before the baby is born so has not yet breathed and the blood supply to the baby’s lungs therefore oxygen is cut off.
Strangulation by the umbilical cord getting around the baby’s neck.
Nowadays with scans that would be seen and can be acted upon.
Neonatal deaths through a particularly difficult birth.Womenwho suffer calcium deficiency ie Rickets, have deformed pelvises and the baby can
not pass through, often it is too late for a Caesarian section to save the baby even if the mother can be saved so the baby dies
Girls married far too young not even in their teens ,also have deformed pelvises so the same story.
Forceps could cause brain damage to a baby ,trauma can cause a baby not to breathe hence the tradition of smacking a baby so the shock of that caused a sharp intake of breath ,exactly what is needed .
Too high a dosage of painkilling drugs get into the baby ‘s blood as well as the mother’s .So an overdose given the baby’s size and weight.
Most of the foregoing if not all pertain to births in much earlier times when poor women just had a neighbour who delivered babies,not qualified at all ,,,sometimes skilled but with no real medical knowledge .
Sadly with all the modern equipment and qualified Nurses and Midwives it still happens .Very very sad, and sometimes no real reason is found.
Viktoria.
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I believe you will find that only the parents are allowed access to a still birth registration, or a sibling if the parents are deceased. I stand to be corrected.
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It might have changed but about 5 years ago I ordered one for a friend, it was her sisters birth certificate I wanted, I do believe I rang and spoke to a very helpful person, I did the dealings not the sister
Louisa Maud
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I applied for the certificate of my mum's twin sister about 6 years ago.
Had to ring Southport GRO, and explained what I wanted and the reason why.
They sent me forms to fill in.
Sent these back by snail-mail, together with a cheque.
Also had to explain in writing why I wanted the cert.
Certificate duly arrived a few weeks later.
No cause of death - only a live birth can have a subsequent death?
No forename on cert - in all other respects it is similar to a Birth Certificate.
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Would a certificate have been issued to the parents of a stillborn baby born in 1942?
Officially yes, whether this always happened in practice, no. Numerous parents of stillborn babies even up to the 1960s have found the stillbirth of their baby has not been recorded.
If the event had to be certified in 1942 are the certificates held locally or/and in the Central Registry?
All stillbirths from first day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven had to be registered and a stillbirth certificate supplied. The Stillbirth Register is held by the GRO.
Could I apply for copy of the certificate - the parents of the child were my uncle and aunt?
Yes, any person in the world is entitled to apply for a copy of a stillbirth certificate for any stillborn. Parents of the stillborn and siblings of the stillborn, if the parents are deceased have an uncontested right to be supplied with a certificate on payment of the appropriate fee.
All other people must give the Registrar General their reason for wanting a copy of the certificate and it his/her duty to decide whether to allow or disallow their application.
Are details - possible cause of stillbirth? - recorded on the certificate and would place of burial be included. Thanks.
If the cause is known it should be recorded on the certificate, however in many cases the cause is not known, the place of burial is not recorded.
See http://anguline.co.uk/cert/birth.html for examples of a 1931 stillbirth certificate and a later redacted stillbirth certificate.
Cheers
Guy
PS the cost used to be £15, I am not certain of today's cost