GRO Indexes show No Mothers Name

[confusion]

After seeing many birth records returned on the GRO index with no mothers name and
also sometimes no childs forename it begs the question,
What information can be gleaned from purchasing such certificates if no mothers
name/childs name is listed? 

I have been contemplating asking this question for quite a while and reading this
thread by Ladyhawk (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=771409.msg6243371#msg6243371)
has in some way answered the question.

The certificate would list a mother but no father i.e an illegitimate birth.

Thank you Ladyhawk for your detailed response.

Jim

[iolaus]

DO you mean no mothers name or no mothers maiden name?

No mothers name would indicate a foundling I imagine (I'm assuming they are issued with birth certificates - maybe there would be an indication of where they were found and who by)

No mothers maiden name would be indicating an illegimate birth

[dawnsh]

The birth index now available dirctly from the GRO has been invaluable to many.

It is possible to find children born between the censuses who sadly died at an erly age.

However, it is just an index.

The GRO have gone back through their own partially digitised records and created this information for us.

If you find an entry in the index where there is no childs name, then it is almost safe to say that at the time of registration between birth and 42 days, the parents had not named the child yet. The child's entry could be amended later to include the name but the index would not be altered after completion and publication.

It is not always safe to say that the un-named child at the time of registration had died which is why there is no name. Sadly though, that was the case in many and still is looking at the recent birth and death indexes at the 7 GRO host sites.

If you find an entry in the new index without a mother's maiden name recorded, it can suggest illegitimacy or mean that whatever system the GRO used they could not determine what the mothers maiden surname was either because the hndwriting was so bad or that the information was not correctly recorded.

Likewise as an example it is not safe to say generally that births recorded as Smith mmn Smith are illegitimate as there are many instances of couples with the same surnames marrying.

As to whether there is any benefit to buying these certs, there may be if money is no object and you are routinely buying every certificate you come across in the indexes.

If you have found a birth for an un-named child, is there a corresponding death in the index most probably in the same quarter? The parents registered the birth and death at the same time. Again do you buy all certs for completeness or just to find out what the poor mites died of at a very young age.