Unusual information on a Birth Certificate

[joanne56]

I recently aquired my Grandmothers Birth certificate which confimed her parents names etc; but had a strange statement in the column that specifies name and residence of informant;

 ESTHER WICKS
 MOTHER

 BINSTEAD HANTS
 AS PER DECLARATION
 DATED NINTH
 AUGUST 1904

the actual registration of birth is 3 days later on the 12th August
Does anyone have any idea what this could mean ? and is it possible that the actual declaration was recorded ? I can't understand why she made a declaration but didn't register the birth at the same time.
I do know from long ago stories from my grandmother that her parents did not stay together and she was raised by her father and his parents who would not have her Mother anywhere near because she was a "showgirl". I realise now that probably meant a travelling show or fairground, which could have a connection to the above statement, but is there anyway i can find out more?

[nanny jan]

Hi joanne56,

If you send off for your grandmother's  parent's marriage certificate that should give you some more background information....the 2 fathers' occupations, the residences for bride and groom and their occupations.

Sorry I'm unable to help on the declaration on the birth certificate; never seen that before!

Good luck,

Nanny Jan

[joanne56]

hi Nan, yes I already have the certificate and her Father is stated as a "Mechanical Engineer" (deceased)
which sounds pretty respectable but I don't know what a mechanical engineer would do at that time and as for residence they appear to have been "shacked up" at the time as both shown at same address. Unless it was a lodging house of course. Might check 1901 census for that one. So apart from giving me the 2 Fathers names and occupations it wasn't very helpful in telling me much about her. None of them lived in Binsted on any previous Census.
perhaps I will have to wait until 1911 census to find out more. Arrrggggh! I did wonder though if there was hop picking at Binsted, or if it was a seasonal fairground location.
thanks for trying to help
Joanne

[avm228]

Hello Joanne,

A statutory declaration is required at first registration of the birth if a father's details are to be included on the birth certificate when he is not married to the mother (unless they attend together for the registration). Here's the modern version of the form as found online:
www.gro.gov.uk/Images/Form%2016_tcm69-18028.pdf

It's also required on re-registration if there's been a change of name or the certificate is being altered for some other reason.

It sounds as though in your case this was the first registration.  Were the parents married before the birth?

The statutory declaration would have been made before a magistrate or notary public etc, not the registrar - the mother would have had to have the declaration sworn before attending for registration, which would explain why they occurred on different dates.

Hope that helps

Anna

[nanny jan]

Hi Joanne,

Going back to the marriage certificate; often the bride and groom would use the same address as their residence to save the cost of having the Banns read in 2 parishes! I've a few examples in my collection of certificates.

Nanny Jan

[casalguidi]

Hi Joanne

We have a similar one though not until the 1940s and (I think) in our case, it was because the mother didn't register the birth where it took place but returned home (it was war time) and registered the birth by declaration ie. it was done by post - possibly via her local registry office.

Casalguidi

[joanne56]

Ah!  now that could be the explanation, it would probably take a few days in the post.  I wonder if a nice letter to the registry office in question might yield some result?

Joanne

[joanne56]

Thanks for that Nan, I hadn't thought about the banns thing, you are probably right there. I did try to check the area in 1901 on Ancestry but most of Reading Census' are missing. It was four years earlier anyway so probably wouldn't have helped much.....and Ann yes they were married before the birth, but that was something else I hadn't thought of, so thanks to you too.

Joanne

[lizdb]

This is a complete guess, but could it be that the mother had actually done a runner and deserted the baby at birth, leaviing her with her dad from day 1. And therefore she left a statutory declaration in the same way that an absent father might leave one in the situation Anna mentions in her post, in order for her name to be put on the birth cert as mother.