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The Common Room / Births registered twice!
« on: Friday 07 March 08 10:34 GMT (UK) »
I thought I was seeing double in the indexes, but no, the births of my great great grandmother and her twin sister really were registered twice, by different people, in different districts and as having happened on different days!
They were born at the Lying-In Hospital at Old Street, London in Oct 1841. First the hospital's Matron recorded them as born on 7th, registered in the hospital's district of City Road, Saint Luke. I believe Lying-In hospitals always registered their births, but I don't think their mother knew this, because she went along on 18th Nov and registered them again in the district for her home address (only a mile or two away but enough to put it under Islington East).
And she thought they'd been born a day later on 8th - well, maybe it was hard to remember by then, or perhaps the Matron got it wrong because they were both born in the early hours of the day. And was it because hospital births were still quite rare that her local registrar just assumed they'd been born at her home address? - because that's what he put.
But the parents' details and the twins' combination of names leave no doubt that it's the same twins. Although even with the names, you can see how errors creep in to records: the Matron's version is for a Sarah Mary Ann and Harriet Meriner while their mother (or the registrar) gave them as Sarah Marianne and Harriet Merener. And here's us relying so much on these things.
Has anyone else come across any multiple records like this??
(The Merener name - with more variant spellings - was strong through several generations of the family, till my great aunt came up against a registrar with firm views in the 1940s. He wouldn't accept a name spelled like that so my cousin has the middle name Marina instead - a shame to see it go - it's made finding them much easier).
I'm curious how they came to be born in hospital and whether the family needed a sponsor or if there was a bill to be paid? The hospital was for married women only, principally “the wives of poor industrious Tradesmen” or of soldiers or sailors, and admission seems to have been by discretion of the Governor. Their father was a groom, from their address it doesn't look like he was attached to any particular domestic household. And I don't think people could tell in advance they were having twins then, could they? - that might have given them some sort of priority.
Any thoughts?
They were born at the Lying-In Hospital at Old Street, London in Oct 1841. First the hospital's Matron recorded them as born on 7th, registered in the hospital's district of City Road, Saint Luke. I believe Lying-In hospitals always registered their births, but I don't think their mother knew this, because she went along on 18th Nov and registered them again in the district for her home address (only a mile or two away but enough to put it under Islington East).
And she thought they'd been born a day later on 8th - well, maybe it was hard to remember by then, or perhaps the Matron got it wrong because they were both born in the early hours of the day. And was it because hospital births were still quite rare that her local registrar just assumed they'd been born at her home address? - because that's what he put.
But the parents' details and the twins' combination of names leave no doubt that it's the same twins. Although even with the names, you can see how errors creep in to records: the Matron's version is for a Sarah Mary Ann and Harriet Meriner while their mother (or the registrar) gave them as Sarah Marianne and Harriet Merener. And here's us relying so much on these things.
Has anyone else come across any multiple records like this??
(The Merener name - with more variant spellings - was strong through several generations of the family, till my great aunt came up against a registrar with firm views in the 1940s. He wouldn't accept a name spelled like that so my cousin has the middle name Marina instead - a shame to see it go - it's made finding them much easier).
I'm curious how they came to be born in hospital and whether the family needed a sponsor or if there was a bill to be paid? The hospital was for married women only, principally “the wives of poor industrious Tradesmen” or of soldiers or sailors, and admission seems to have been by discretion of the Governor. Their father was a groom, from their address it doesn't look like he was attached to any particular domestic household. And I don't think people could tell in advance they were having twins then, could they? - that might have given them some sort of priority.
Any thoughts?