Stillborn

[Helina]

If a baby was born stillborn but registered would he/she be counted on the 1911 census.
helina

[Gadget]

This would depend on how the person completing the census forms felt about it. The fertility questions

asked married women to state the years their marriage had lasted, the number of children born alive to the present marriage and how many had died. 

Gadget

[andrewalston]

It's only very recently that stillbirths made it onto any civil register. If the child is on the birth register, that implies a live birth, even if the life was very short.

Burial registers, though, often include stillborn children, and they seem to be written down as such. I don't think I have seen one which mentions a given name, and most say "child of" rather mentioning a gender.

[stanmapstone]

If a baby was born stillborn but registered would he/she be counted on the 1911 census.
helina

The formal registration of stillbirths only began on 1 July 1927. (Births and Deaths Act 1926)

Stan

[Treetotal]

If a baby was born stillborn but registered would he/she be counted on the 1911 census.
helina

The formal registration of stillbirths only began on 1 July 1927. (Births and Deaths Act 1926)

Stan

Thanks for that useful piece of info Stan...my Grandma had 13 children with only seven surviving to adulthood. I have identified the four who died but there is no trace of the "stillborn twins that she lost". The biggest gap between the children occurred between 1921 and 1925 so you have cleared that up for me.

Carol

[Guy Etchells]

It's only very recently that stillbirths made it onto any civil register. If the child is on the birth register, that implies a live birth, even if the life was very short.

Burial registers, though, often include stillborn children, and they seem to be written down as such. I don't think I have seen one which mentions a given name, and most say "child of" rather mentioning a gender.

The naming of stillborn children in registers started in the mid 1980s prior to that forenames were not given to stillbirths in registers.

Burial registers and Plot register (Lair registers) from at least 1551 may contain entries of a stillbirth, born dead, abortive birth or exceptionally non-viable child.
Newspapers and Family Bibles may also hold mentions of stillbirths.

Family historians searching parish registers may also be alerted to possible stillbirths by gaps between live births in families which show a regular interval between births.
However we cannot ascribe every such gap to a stillbirth as there may be other possible reasons for such a gap.

Cheers
Guy

[Helina]

Thank you for putting me straight on this subject

Helina

[Ayashi]

People did all sorts on the 1911 census in response to that question. I've got some who counted their total number of children regardless of marriage and I've heard of more than a few occasions where all children were named regardless of whether or not they were alive or living in the house at the time. It's certainly possible for a stillborn child to have been counted among "number of children born (alive)" even if they weren't supposed to have been.

[Gillg]

My gt-grandfather left a list of all his children with their birth dates, whether stillborn or surviving.  Each was named and had the date of birth and the days/months/years he survived noted with their date of death.  Of 11 children, 4 were girls and 7 were boys.  The girls all survived and lived beyond their 70s.  Only one of the boys, my grandfather,  survived into adulthood.  The other boys were either stillborn or lived for a short time.  I am so grateful that this little handwritten list was among my mother's papers, as otherwise I would not have known that the stillborn babies were also given names, nor would I have known of the existence of these little boys, as they were born before the mother's surname was recorded.  As far as I know the babies who lived for a time were not baptised, since the family were Baptists and practised adult baptism.  Neither of my gt-grandparents was alive in 1911, but it would have been interesting to see how that particular column was filled in.