No Death Certificate for WWI Soldier

[Girl Guide]

Ok, wasn't quite sure what margin notes were.

So Stevie's best option is to do a postem on Freebmd so that any other researchers will know about the names.

[StevieB]

Hi AntonyMMM & girlguide,

Many thanks for your comments, it's amazing how much you can learn from others thoughts and advice.

There are two living people that can be classed as credible (Granddaughter & Great Grandson). I have many documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, census records & military records) that all state his middle name was John, not James.  The 1911 census is written and signed in his own hand.  Obviously there is no living person who can state that he always used his correct middle name.

I did see the £90.00 fee mentioned before when investigating if a change is possible, which seems a very high charge for correcting an error.

Surprisingly, I noticed that on Henry John Bryant's birth certificate his father's first names were swapped in error.  The certificate states his father's name as Henry William Bryant, when it was actually William Henry Bryant.

Was my Great Grandfather just unlucky or were these types of errors common during this period?  It strikes me as strange that important documents such as a birth or death certificate would not be corrected when issued by next of kin.

As always, many thanks for your advice and comments.

Steve

[majm]

Hi,

Perhaps may I suggest that these are not intentional "errors" but simply  "official records" and it is only in recent times firstly with EDP and now with absolute computerisation that officialdom has lost the human element and causes family history buffs to see errors when the registrar' s staff recorded what they thought they heard and then said to the informant "sign here"  but did not say  " read thoroughly, check for mistakes and then if absolutely sure, then and only then,  sign here"      

JM  ( my ancient living relatives include clergy, archivist and retired senior officers from NSW bdm Registrar Generals Office)

Hi AntonyMMM & girlguide,

Many thanks for your comments, it's amazing how much you can learn from others thoughts and advice.

There are two living people that can be classed as credible (Granddaughter & Great Grandson). I have many documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, census records & military records) that all state his middle name was John, not James.  The 1911 census is written and signed in his own hand.  Obviously there is no living person who can state that he always used his correct middle name.

I did see the £90.00 fee mentioned before when investigating if a change is possible, which seems a very high charge for correcting an error.

Surprisingly, I noticed that on Henry John Bryant's birth certificate his father's first names were swapped in error.  The certificate states his father's name as Henry William Bryant, when it was actually William Henry Bryant.

Was my Great Grandfather just unlucky or were these types of errors common during this period?  It strikes me as strange that important documents such as a birth or death certificate would not be corrected when issued by next of kin.

As always, many thanks for your advice and comments.

Steve