Why would someone use a wrong birthdate despite knowing his correct one?

[Finley 1]

I have a case of one family member dying and basically being replaced by the next one that was born just within the year?

So could it be something like that.

xin

[StevieSteve]

It could just be down to ineptness of the informant - my Dad will forever have a middle name of Edgar to the Russian Visa authorities because I had a blip instead of writing Ernest

[Marmalady]

I have a case of one family member dying and basically being replaced by the next one that was born just within the year?

So could it be something like that.

xin

That was the first thing I checked and ruled out

GRO shows his birth in 1879
There is no corresponding death and birth of a later child with the same names

It could just be down to ineptness of the informant - my Dad will forever have a middle name of Edgar to the Russian Visa authorities because I had a blip instead of writing Ernest

If the wrong date was on one document, I could understand it just being a mistake either on the part of the informant or the person entering the information -- but for the wrong date to be on two entirely different documents 15 years apart is surely more than a coincidence? Especially as the second, foreign, document is corrected to the date that matches his birth certificate

[chris_49]

If he was the eldest child, was he born "a bit too soon" after his parents wedding?

My Great Aunt always claimed to be a year younger than she was for this reason. When official documents were needed (ie passport etc) the real age had to be used.

This was the case with my grandmother - born before the wedding but registered after it, sent to school a year late to keep up the deception. My father only found out the truth when she died. What I don't know is whether she herself was always aware of the deception.

[iolaus]

Wouldn't it be easier to just claim you were married a year longer than start your child at school later etc

I know one of my ancestors who on the 1911 census added time to the length of their marriage, and included the illegitamate son as a child of the marriage (so I guess he was both of theirs - he was stationed in India from 7 months before the child was born for 2 years, they then married once he returned)

[stanmapstone]

People back then had such poor literacy skills - they really didn't know their age/DOB and just guessed. It was quite common for dates to be incorrect.

Sandra

The Elementary Education Act of 1880, made school attendance compulsory.

Stan

[Marmalady]

As I said in an earlier reply, he was the second child of the family so any fudging of dates to hide an early birth does not apply

[Rena]

Were his parents present when he was baptised as a teenager when the incorrect birthdate was given?  It must have been something important such as he needed proof of age for being accepted on an apprenticeship course with an age limit on it, for example.   When do you stop acting out the lie, when you know that there's an "official" record for Sept 1880?

One of my mother's cousins related to me that her father had a quandary about his surname. His parents had unofficially changed the family's surname and he'd used it without thinking until he had his first child and then wondered if he should give his original surname when he registered the baby.

[Marmalady]

Were his parents present when he was baptised as a teenager when the incorrect birthdate was given?  It must have been something important such as he needed proof of age for being accepted on an apprenticeship course with an age limit on it, for example.   When do you stop acting out the lie, when you know that there's an "official" record for Sept 1880?

His parents were certainly named in the baptismal register, so I presume they were present
His two younger brothers were baptised the next week -- aged 10 and 4.

As for the baptismal register being an "official document", surely his birth certificate would be more official?
He must have known the two dates for them both to appear on the Belgian documents

And on the 1939 Register he uses the correct 1879 date