Missing birth certificate ref

[Crestfallen]

thanks everyone,  I didn't realise that it wasn't obligatory to register births until 1870, perhaps it wasn't registered.

I did think that Mary's age at her birth was a bit suspect, but as Robert is listed as her father on her marriage certificate, I just took it at face value. But I guess that it is possible that one of the 2 older girls is the mother.

[avm228]

I wouldn't write her off as unregistered just yet.  The change in the registration rules wasn't actually until 1875, and all it meant in practice was that the responsibility to ensure that registration took place shifted from the registrar to the parents.  It is not the case that registration was somehow optional before 1875 - it was fully designed as, and intended to be, a universal system from 1 July 1837.

I also wouldn't place any reliance on the naming of Robert as her father on the marriage certificate.  She appears to have been brought up in his household from the age of 2 (or before) so for practical purposes she probably thought of him as her father, but that tells you nothing about who her actual father was.

Anna

[avm228]

A possible birth for Alfred:

WAKEFIELD William Alfred

Mar 1854 Richmond 2a 177

[Necromancer]

wouldn't write her off as unregistered just yet.  The change in the registration rules wasn't actually until 1875, and all it meant in practice was that the responsibility to ensure that registration took place shifted from the registrar to the parents.  It is not the case that registration was somehow optional before 1875 - it was fully designed as, and intended to be, a universal system from 1 July 1837.

agreed Anna, I think many people take the fact that from 1874/5 that fines could be levied as meaning it was then obligatory.


I did look for 'Female' registrations but nowt !

did she have another forename ?

[jacquelineve]

1851 census H0107/1605  folio 214  page 15

Wakefield
Robert      44
Mary         33
Elizb.         20
ROBERT     18
Mary A         9

possible Robert jnr.father?

Jackie