Possible for birth records to be "disappeared" from GRO?

[chris_49]

Is it possible for birth records to be removed from the GRO listings? This isn't anything to do with my family, but I thought I'd ask.

Three siblings have their birth records on both FreeBMD and the local county listings on UKBMD. Yet none of them appear on the GRO site. One such you could write off as a coincidence, but three? The names are not difficult or confusing, unlikely to be mistranscribed.

I'm sorry I can't give details - because although the man I'm interested in died a few years back, his siblings might be alive and the children from his last marriage are quite young.

I suspect that the deletions were allowed because the father was a notorious criminal. The celebrity either changed his name, or more likely had it changed for him when young, by dropping the offending surname and just using the given names, the last of which is a surname.

Any ideas?

 

[davidft]

In the past I have found several birth registrations that are on freeBMD etc either missing from GRO or mistranscribed. What I have done is report them to GRO and if they can find them (which they usually can as i provide the freeBMD reference etc) they then update their site.

Unfortunately this was before Covid hit and the updating of their site seems to have come to a bit of a halt as far as I can see.

[chris_49]

In the past I have found several birth registrations that are on freeBMD etc either missing from GRO or mistranscribed. What I have done is report them to GRO and if they can find them (which they usually can as i provide the freeBMD reference etc) they then update their site.

Unfortunately this was before Covid hit and the updating of their site seems to have come to a bit of a halt as far as I can see.

I've found this too, but I don't think this is the case here. Three siblings vanish, one in one district and two in another. I'm no longer a member of Ancestry or FindMyPast. but they're stlll on there on the free search

[davidft]

In the past I have found several birth registrations that are on freeBMD etc either missing from GRO or mistranscribed. What I have done is report them to GRO and if they can find them (which they usually can as i provide the freeBMD reference etc) they then update their site.

Unfortunately this was before Covid hit and the updating of their site seems to have come to a bit of a halt as far as I can see.

I've found this too, but I don't think this is the case here. Three siblings vanish, one in one district and two in another. I'm no longer a member of Ancestry or FindMyPast. but they're stlll on there on the free search

Have you contacted GRO to see what they say, although i appreciate it may take some time to get a reply under current circumstances.

[chris_49]

Knowing that sometimes a page can go missing or get lost, I've traced the birth records of all ten people whose birth records are on the same pages as the suspect trio on FreeBMD, to the GRO. All ten are there, with their references identical in each case (there is one slight inconsistency of surname).

[chris_49]

In the past I have found several birth registrations that are on freeBMD etc either missing from GRO or mistranscribed. What I have done is report them to GRO and if they can find them (which they usually can as i provide the freeBMD reference etc) they then update their site.

Unfortunately this was before Covid hit and the updating of their site seems to have come to a bit of a halt as far as I can see.

No, and I agree pointless at the moment. If I made the enquiry, I wouldn't expect to be told the truth, and alarm bells might start ringing in high places. I might even get that 5 am knock on the door. What I need is info from someone who knows the GRO.


I've found this too, but I don't think this is the case here. Three siblings vanish, one in one district and two in another. I'm no longer a member of Ancestry or FindMyPast. but they're stlll on there on the free search

Have you contacted GRO to see what they say, although i appreciate it may take some time to get a reply under current circumstances.

[chris_49]

Have you contacted GRO to see what they say, although i appreciate it may take some time to get a reply under current circumstances.

Sorry my reply got lost.

I agree it would be pointless at the moment. I wouldn't expect them to tell me the truth on this one, if what I suspect is true.

[Dundee]

If this is about the incident in 1935 you may have seen the multiple indexings of the children's births.  I did think that in 1942 alterations were made to change the surname to the mother's first married name to give them anonymity but the daughter married with her father's surname so I am probably wrong.  Perhaps they only appear in the GRO indexes in 1942 which is not available online.  The best person to answer your questions would be AntonyMMM.

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=124423

I am not trying to be psychic, I just happened to be reading about it recently but can't remember why.

Debra 

[Dundee]

 I'm no longer a member of Ancestry or FindMyPast. but they're stlll on there on the free search

They have both used the 'old' printed indexes on their websites.  The GRO is compiling new indexes with different criteria for how names appear in those indexes.

I have had a look now.  The daughter born in 1931 and son born in 1933 appear in the GRO indexes as I have described - "I did think that in 1942 alterations were made to change the surname to the mother's first married name."

Debra