Hi again,
I have always thought that some records are out there but we just don't know about them or how to access them. The answers to problems like missing birth registrations may be waiting to be rediscovered among PRO records in storage.
Ada Ackerly a renowned and passionate researcher of all Victorian records makes the following points as she works her way through transcribiing the records made available to hermany are damaged:
This series I indexed from a big register partly eaten by rats about ten years ago, on loan from the Prothonotary of the Supreme Court. The
actual case files, then, were on pallets in storage at the PRO. The
1922-1936 files have just been released. I'm working through them,
noting errors in titles and spelling and allocating box/unit numbers as
they are examined. 2286 case files in total, I've checked 308 files in
the first 6 boxes... a long way to go! Takes about 3-4 hours per box,
depending on condition and number of files per box.
and
There are several files, water damaged in
unit 6, and unreadable, and archivists will likely withdraw the whole
box if individual files are requested and they become aware. Putting the
damp files in plastic sleeves seems folly... the ones I read actually
dried out in the air-conditioning and became readable and the pages
separated as they dried without any forcing. you just have to be patient
with the few files so damaged. Two were so damaged I made no attempt to
open them at all, just noting their title and case number with
"unreadable" in the notes.
and others may hold missing links for many researchers
EQUITY: Applications for late registrations of birth, actions for
custody of children after marriage breakdowns, sad stories from widows
who seek "maintenance out of corpus" or to use the lump sum inheritance
to feed and educate their children, with sad tales of desperation,
farming out of hungry children, seeking to get income through the
Neglected Children's Department, etc... there are some harrowing tales
in "Equity Case Files".
I think that it is worth continuing to look,explore and "google" as new information is being made public every day.
We are indebited to all researchers such as Ada, without their hard work most of the on line records we access would not be available.
regards
Robyn
