Newbie, looking for Thomas and Harriet Watson of Ripley Derbyshire.

[Tickettyboo]

Have you looked at the image to see what it actually says?
The correction on Ancestry is because the transcription was incorrect.
Always check the image and don't just rely on the transcription.

The image is quite clear the d.o.b. was recorded as 09 Aug 1885

Boo

[Erica1980]

Thank you, yes I have looked at it and did see the dob I just didn't know why would someone would change it that's all.
it would just make sense as to why I can't find any record of his birth.
he is a mystery to me 

[Tickettyboo]

Back to possible birth registrations for Thomas Watson
Bear in mind that we can only work with info that we can see in the records - which may or may not be correct. Dates of birth sometimes have errors, places of birth are often recorded as the first place the person remembered living so they may have been born elsewhere and the family moved when they were very young.

Its a painstaking, baby step by baby step procedure - but it does get easier/quicker  once you have done it a good few times.

You said you don't know how to search, hopefully this will help.

So the starting points we have are:
his d.o.b. on the 1939 register was recorded as 09 Aug 1885
his place of birth, on the 1911 census was recorded as Bamber Bridge Lancashire

So that is what we can work with, in the hope that we can track him down - along with a father's name that will hopefully be revealed when you get the marriage cert.

If he was born in August 1885, the earliest his birth could be registered in the GRO births index would be the third quarter (July-September) 1885.

Births were required to be registered within 6 weeks, so that would give a range in the index of Q3 1885 to the end of Q4 1885. To be on the safe side I'd stretch that to Q1 1886.

Free BMD, - is easier to search then the GRO Site as you can restrict it by county of registration, but doesn't give mother's maiden name prior to 1911.

https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Search births with the following criteria:

Surname: WATSON
First name; Thomas
Date range; Sep 1885 to March 1886

In the Counties box, select Lancashire to just include births registered in that county

Click on Find to see the results.

I see 4 results and write those down as I would have to check all of them to try to track them to see what, if anything,  I can learn about each of them


1 Thomas Watson Q4 1885 Rochdale 8e 86

Checking this on the GRO site using the criteria
Year 1885 +/- 0
Surname Watson
First name Thomas
Sex Male
District of Birth. Rochdale

gives a MNN of Lord

looking a couple of years either side of his birth to see if I can find a possible sibling for him
Using the criteria

Year 1887 +/- 2 (that may have to be repeated using different years if nothing turns up)
Surname Watson
First name  leave blank
Sex Male (though repeat the same search using female)
MMN. Lord
District of Birth. Rochdale

gives a possible sibling as John Watson MMN Lord

1891 census
Search for Thomas Watson born 1885 +/- 2 with a brother called John, in Lancashire

scan down the list of results and this looks likely
Piece 3344/Folio 84/ page 16

Market St Spotland, Rochdale
Thomas Watson Head, wid 71
Thomas Watson, son, married 36
Jane Watson daughter in law, married 30
Thomas Watson grandson, age 5
John Watson , grandson age 2

Free BMD Marriages gives a likely result for
Thomas Watson married Jane Lord Q3 1884, Rochdale

Following 'this' family through the later census returns, shows that 'this' Thomas born 1885 is still living with his Dad in 1911.

So he is highly unlikely to be the Thomas Watson who married Harriet Emma in 1909 and I'd discount that birth registration.

I'd suggest you follow the same steps with the other registrations, see what turns up.
Keep notes of what you find, and when the marriage cert arrives, hopefully the the groom's father's name will match with one of these births you have explored.

Boo