Looking for details on how an unmarried mother’s baby was registered in 1960

[Nik99]

I just came across this amazing forum and wonder if anyone here can help me — I’m looking for information on who could have registered an underage, unmarried mum's illegitimate baby in England in 1960 and what paperwork they would have had to show the registrar. Could an underage mum even register the birth herself or did her father have to do it? What paperwork would she have had if she went on her own? Could she have registered the birth fro!m hospital or would the hospital have done it for her? And if she gave birth in a mother and baby home, would they have registered the birth for her? Someone’s mentioned a ‘card’ that the doctor gave them to take to the register, somewhere else I read that the doctor or midwife passed information on to the registrar who then crossed the registering mum off the list when she appeared at the RO.

Thanks so much for your help, I appreciate any thoughts I could look into further!! 

[PaulineJ]

The mother of the child.
Anyone present at the birth (friend, neighbour, family)
Anyone in authority at the hospital/mother-and-baby home.

[rosie99]

Hi

Welcome to rootschat

The birth registration should show on the GRO indexes.  The certificate would give details as to who registered the birth and when

Rosie

[ScouseBoy]

Not sure of the system  in 1960,
but in the 1980s       the maternity hospital  would send a list of births to the registrar.

So  when the parent went in to the registrars office, the registrar would already have some basic details.

I recall that some registrars offices were within the grounds of some hospitals.  Billinge and Fazakerley(Aintree)  for example.

[Nik99]

Super, thanks so much for the help! Would you know if the mum was underage and unmarried, whether she could just show up at the registrar's office on her own and report the birth, or did she have to go there with her father? The informant's name on the birth cert is the same as the mother's but the mother was underage at the time. Trying to figure out whether that was possible? 
Thanks again! 

[lizdb]

I would have thought that , as mother of the child, she was eligible to be the informant, whatever her age.

[MargP]

Hi

When you say under age how old was she

Margp

[AntonyMMM]

The mother is always the preferred primary informant for a birth registration, and there is no requirement for her (or any informant) to be of any particular age.

As far as paperwork - the registrar has to be satisfied that the birth took place in their district ( which is usually, but not always, confirmed by information from the hospital or midwife), and that the person attending is qualified to be an informant and able to give the necessary information.

The qualification for being the informant e.g. "mother", or "present at the birth" should also be shown on the certificate in col 7.

[nanny jan]

If you want to order a copy of the certificate (£9.25) you can order online:

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

When my first child was born (1969) the Registrar visited the hospital; for the others my husband registered them, think he was given paperwork by the hospital/midwife.