Death registered but not birth

[SandraEve]

I have a copy of the burial register for Nottingham General Cemetery.  Thomas Cresswell aged four months buried 19 July 1846, son of Robert and Ann Cresswell, father a dyer, address Canaan Street.
Died 12 July 1846.

Mothers maiden name is Huff.  I have searched the GRO indexes and cannot find a birth entry.  I have searched Ancestry and FindMyPast and cannot find a baptism.

Does anyone know if its possible that the birth was not registered ?

Thank you

[PaulineJ]

More likely its not in the place you expect or not under the name you expect.

[BumbleB]

It was not mandatory to register births prior to mid 1870's - the onus was not on the parents to do so.

[Annie65115]

Prior to birth registration becoming compulsory, I've come across quite a few infant burials with no matching birth.

Robert and Ann married in Radford in 1838 but I can't see any baptisms for any of their children (if they had any others) on the FHS CD, not anywhere in Notts.

[barryd]

 It has been estimated that in some parts of England up to 15% of births were not registered between 1837 and 1875. On the Internet. Published by GRO.

[Rosinish]

I have only today been revisiting a birth I couldn't find for c1844 (from census).

I have several variants for the surname which was initially my problem i.e. put on the back burner but as far as I can see it's definitely not there although his 4 siblings are identifiable on the index.

Annie

[Rena]

I've come across several reasons for my not finding baptism records. 

When I first started family history I expected to find the children's baptism was in the same church as the parents marriag.  I was corrected by the local vicar which stated that marriages would be in the larger grander dioces church and baptisms would be held in the local parish church, if they still existed and rats or water hadn't destoyed them.

I once came across a school inspector's report which stated he had found one five year old pupil had not been baptised. He had immediately taken the child out of school, had her baptised and then readmitted to the parish school. Up in Scotland a vicar insisted on the bride being baptised before he would marry the couple as he didn't recognise the church where the bride had been baptised.   

It was cheaper to have the child baptised by the local vicar, but without the vicar making out the details of the baptism and sending the record to the diocese.

The Catholic church will allow a child to be baptized in a local christian church if the nearest catholic church is a long distance away from where the father works.  In this event the parents will  make one expensive trip to the catholic church nd haver all their children baptised together.

[SandraEve]

Thank you all very much for your informative replies and the research done.  I wrongly thought a birth had to be registered from 1837.  The information given will help with with other queries I have.
Interestingly I have an ancestor who was baptised at St Nicholas Nottingham in 1897 aged 59. The Free Reg transcription has her birth date as 1838 and again I have not found a birth entry.  As yet I have not found an event to coincide with the baptism which would have caused her to be baptised late in life.
Sandra

[Rosinish]

I knew a lady who was baptised a Mormon in her late 60s (her own choice)...

She was very keen on Genealogy!

Annie