Puzzled, Why was birth not registered?

[flossy]

Hi all,
       It was always a well known fact in my family that my grandads birth was not registered. When I was young I didn't give this a second thought, but since starting family research I am wondering why and there is no-one around who can tell me.
       The puzzling thing is that I have found records of 9 siblings and the local parish registers have records of all of these siblings but nothing for my grandfather.
        So it looks like he was the only one of a large family who was not registered or baptized.
        It just puzzles me . any ideas.

        Flossy

[casalguidi]

Hi Flossy

What date are we talking about and where does he fit into the order of siblings?

Casalguidi

[flossy]

Hi Casa,

          He is a middle child and dates 1890 - 1910.

Flossy

[stanmapstone]

The Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1874  made the  failure to register a birth punishable by a fine of £2.00.

Stan

[Tees]

Hi Flossy,

It could be the case of:

1. your grandfather was taken in the family as a member of the family but probably was a relative or was a son of his father with other woman?

2. your grandfather was registered somewhere under a different name (yet this is weak as you have searched the parish records)

3. your grandfather was adopted by great grandparents

I can only think of is that: when did your grandfather passed on? If he died in 1970s, you can try and find his death cert as it will tell his birthdate and birthplace which will narrow down your searches?

Or if your grandfather had served in Second World War, perhaps you could find out a bit about his date of birth via his service records?

Hope the suggestions are of any use to you.

Kind regards,

Tees

[colinjohn]

Hello Flossy

Be aware, also, that the GRO indexes are not infallable; information could and did get lost at various stages in the registration process.

See this website for a taster of the problems:
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/mikefost/

I have also come across a report in the Times (7 October 1889) that suggests that the problem of non-registration continued for many years after 1874:
Extract from the annual report of Dr Septimus Gibbon, Medical Officer of Health, Holborn District Board of Works
...
The birth-rate during the year was 25.1 per 1,000 inhabitants, as against 30.7, the birth rate of all London. [Dr Gibbon] holds that there are reasons for believing that the real birth-rate of the district is not obtained, and his reason is that many of the births among the migratory and Italian population escape registration. …

Colin

[colinjohn]

... It was always a well known fact in my family that my grandads birth was not registered. ...

If you really mean that the birth was not registered rather than you can't find the index entry, perhaps he was a very sickly child at birth and not expected to survive so the parents kept putting off the registration until they had passed the deadline. Rather than pay the fine they didn't register the birth - I believe that such things did happen.

Colin

[aghadowey]

Have also come across several cases where a child was registered with a different Christian name than the one always used on other documents. In one instance this only came to light when the person was applying for pension and needed a birth certificate- turns out grandmother was the midwife and named child after herself instead of giving the name parents had chosen!

[flossy]

Hi,

 Thankyou for your replies Stan,  Tees, Colin and Downy.

 Firstly, I realize the GRO does have a lot of missing records, but I can't find a baptism record either.

 The fact that I have found both GRO and baptism for a lot of other siblings leads me to believe they were not a family who didn't bother with such things.

  The suggestion that he may have been a baby not expected to survive is something to consider, but then I would have expected to find a baptism.

  My grandfather did serve in the war and I have found a medal certificate but nothing else.

  The family found out that my grandfathers birth was not registered when he retired and had a problem claiming his pension.

  On the 1901 census he is recorded as 9 years old and fits in well with other siblings ages.

  I would be grateful for all your thoughts on this.
 
  Flossy