1873 Victorian Birth Certificate

[jeffreyjoecarroll]

I have located the birth certificate of an ancestor, Ann Price, born Sept 1873 in Newtown, Scarsdale, Victoria and find some information on it that I have never come across before.

In the area for the informant it shows her mothers name & residence and then the words "after declaration made and by law required".

Would this be noted in place of a signature or mark that is usually the case? Or, is there some other meaning/reason behind this?

Any assistance/ideas from Rootschatters appreciated.

Jeff

[Neil Todd]

Informative certificates aren't they!

The informant had to sign a statutory declaration by Law is all that means. They had to have proof that they were who they said they were.

The declaration would have been signed obviously.

Neil

[majm]

Hi there,

Does a similar declaration appear on any other entries on that page?

Cheers,  JM

[Neil Todd]

I think the question should be who was present. The columns have a space to show if the informant was present if the mother or father. But it could be a sister or grandmother and they would have to prove that the parents could not attend.

Neil

[majm]

Agh, I see.... I have only a very few VIC bcs, and there are usually several on the one page.... 

Your explanation makes very good sense to me .... One birth cert from rural Vic for a great Aunt ... her eldest brother, aged 13 registered her birth and yes, there's a declaration clause on that, but there's nearly five weeks between the birth and when he registered it.   Also this brother had fetched the baby along to PROVE it.  I might note that the lad got absolutely every detail RIGHT ... spot on, all the siblings, the parents details, even the exact date and place of their marriage, and his signature shows he was well able to read and write.  He must have been mighty proud of the first GIRL in the family .... there were 8 boys before this girl came along,      so they had another girl next time  (a girl and a spare) 

Sorry for digressing, I love learning new things here at RChat. 

Cheers,  JM

[rosball]

Yes I have an 1874 Victorian birth record with 5 births on the page.

Two of them have the bit about after declaration made as by law required.  One of them has the grandmother as informant.
The other one has mother as informant but under the column witnesses where (1) is name by whom certified this certificate has "not any" (followed by 2 witnesses).

The other 3 have mother or father as informant and a name for who certified under witnesses and nothing about a declaration.

regards,
  Ros

[jeffreyjoecarroll]

Thank you for your input everyone. Glad to hear this is not as unusual as I thought. I have quite a few Vic birth certs and have never seen it before. Checking this certificate (alone on the page), I note that there were no witnesses present when the mother registered the birth....2 months after the event.

The other details on the certificate are very detailed as well. Possibly, the Registrar, Walter Campbell was just one of those people that dot his i's and cross his t's. It's better than some other certs I have where I sure they must have been about to go to lunch and scribbled indecipherably!!

Cheers.
Jeff

[regross]

Hello

I have a NSW certificate from around the same time with the same wording. Here the child had been registered by the mother 3 months after its date of birth.

So perhaps it has to do with the length of time between birth and registration.
I understand there is a time period in which to register a birth and teh declaration may be need for births registerd outside this time limit.


regards
Robyn

[Neil Todd]

I noticed something else but don't know if it would be relevant. It appears that they asked if the child was present at the registration. There had to be lots of reasons why you couldn't present a child and/or mother at a registration, ill health and so on. But I dont have certs without the baby and mother being present at registration. I wondered if any one else may have one or is this the reason for the declaration.

Neil