Birth Registrations

[Antoinette 12]

Bit confused here perhaps someone can enlighten me. If on birth reg mother uses her maiden name does that mean the husband is not the father? this is in the mid 1800s

[StevieSteve]

Could be that there's no husband.

[Jebber]

If the couple are married  an example would be mother Ann Bloggs formerly  Smith, the father Joe Bloggs. If unmarried it would be mother Ann Smith, father Joe Bloggs. Until 1875 an unmarried woman could name the father,  often they named a relative or a fictitious person as the father to hide illegitimacy. After 1875 the father had to  attend the registration of an illegitimate birth if he was to be named.

[chempat]

If on birth reg mother uses her maiden name does that mean the husband is not the father?

Do you mean that you have a marriage for the parents - as you have said husband?

[Guy Etchells]

Here in England & Wales if a couple are married at the mother gives birth the child is automatically a legitimate child of the marriage, unless it can be shown the husband had no access to the mother during the appropriate period (time of conception) or there is some medical or physical reason why he could not be the father.

The Legitimacy Act, 1926 legitimised any illegitimate children living at the time of the 1926 Act,  whose parents had married either before or after the 1926 Act as long as both of his/her parents were free to marry at the time of his/her birth.

The surname of the mother on a child’s birth certificate only shows that she used that name when registering the birth, even if the mothers surname shows something like Jones formerly Smith it does not mean she and the man shown as the father were married.

Cheers
Guy

[Antoinette 12]

Thank you all for your replies. I understand now
regards
Antoinette

[[Closed]]

Hi,

Just to add something from personal experience.

My great grandmother does not have her father's name of her birth certificate. She was born in 1898. Her parents didn't marry until around 1.5 months after her birth. After her parent's marriage, she adopted her father's surname on census records. She also married using her father's surname, but she recorded the birth of her son using her mother's surname.

A DNA test has shown that the man not listed on her birth certificate was indeed her biological father. As you may not be able to confirm the relationship via DNA testing, it is worth considering the age of the mother when the child was born. The mother's surname may also match with the mother's father at the time of the child's birth. If so, this would suggest that she was not previously married when the child was born.

All the best,

[Antoinette 12]

.I think you might be right and they didn't marry although lived together in future censuses. Anyway you have made it a lot clearer for me.
Thank you
Regards
Antoinette

[Ayashi]

I'm pretty sure I've got a certificate somewhere where the birth was registered with parents Joe Bloggs and Ann Smith where the parents were indeed married at the time of the birth- it was an early cert iirc and I think the person recording just got a bit confused by "name and maiden name of mother" and put her as her maiden name rather than Bloggs formerly Smith.