Why no mother's name on birth certificate?

[dawnsh]

Just to add, I've seen a couple of birth certs for foundlings. If you look at their entries in the GRO birth index the space for the mothers name is blank or filled with ---

Dawn

[andycadman]

Many thanks for all you responses.

The only solution is to contact the appropriate register office, from whom I have just got this response:

As you suspect, it is unusual for a full birth certificate not to show the natural mother's details. However it would be necessary for the gentleman in question to contact this office himself to discuss this matter.

For this enquiry, it would be easier for him to telephone or call into the Register Office

I will pass this information on to him and see where things go . . . . . . . .

Will it open up a "can of worms" or will there be a simple explanation?

Andy

[shirclo]

Perhaps a phone call to the local Register Office where your friend's birth was registered may shed some light on this matter. 

When my late mother needed her birth certificate for the first time (aged 62), her cousin went to the relevant Register Office for her & the Registrar not only provided the certificate but very kindly photocopied the entry in the Register which contained a notation with some personal information.
Mum's cousin knew my mother had been brought up by her aunt after my grandmother died just after giving birth & mum's father didn't wish to be "saddled with a baby" so Mum would never have found her birth cert if her cousin been in on the "big secret". The cousin explained this to the Registrar which is why they were so helpful. It was a huge shock to my poor mother!!!

I'm sure the local Superintendant Registrar would check the entry for your friend to see if any more info is contained there.
Regards,
Shirley

[andycadman]

Just shows that you have to be prepared for the unexpected and every eventuality when you research your family history.

Andy

[shirclo]

I hadn't started doing the family tree when my mother discovered this - my dad was just coming up to pension age & the government needed Mum's birth cert!!
If she hadn't asked her cousin to get it for her (we live a different county), Mum would have been asking for it in the wrong surname & the wrong parents!

Nothing can ever be as big a shock as that was for many reasons but it taught me to be wary of things that family members tell me because I know how huge family secrets can be.

Regards
Shirley

[pinefamily]

The other thing I would suggest, other than contacting the local RO, is to search the indexes later for an amended entry, if there was an error originally. An amended entry will have different numbering for the page number.

Darren

[MDellerus]

Just FYI...
I am about to have my son's mother removed from his birth certificate.
While in a Family Court case, she has relinquished all parental rights, which gives my and my son the right to remove her from the birth certificate, which we are choosing to do.