Death Index gives DOB but no birth certificate to match to

[George52]

I've found a person I'm researching in the death index on Ancestry and it shows a birth date but I cannot find a birth certificate for this person on the date given. Should I take it that Ancestry is correct as would that information be populated from the death registration itself and perhaps there is no birth certificate? Person was born 1920 according to Ancestry index.

[ShaunJ]

If you are talking about a death in England or Wales, the deaths index (for deaths after 1865) will show an age, which will be the age given by the informant and may not be accurate. From this Ancestry and other such services calculate a birth year by simple subtraction from the death year.

So, possible explanations:
- the calculated birth year may be wrong
- the name used at death may not be the name registered at birth, or may be spelled differently
- they may have been born in a different jurisdiction
- the birth may not have been registered ( more of a possibility before 1866 when the rules were tightened up)

Have you found them on the 1921 census?

[louisa maud]

Give it a wider search
Have you checked on 1921 and 1939 listings, 1939 will give his date of birth

Louisa Maud

[George52]

I have found him on the 1921 and 1939 registers and the date of birth is one year out compared to Ancestry. If I go by the census info I can then find his birth certificate.

[emeltom]

Which just goes to prove that the information given on a Death Certificate is only as good as the knowledge of the person giving it.

[ShaunJ]

There's also the potential inaccuracy of simply subtracting age from death year to impute a birth year. There's an even chance that the answer could be a year out.

[louisa maud]

I always look 2 years either side, only on one occasion  did I get a bit confused, looked for births to my Gt grandparents, couldn't find any but I knew they had children , first child born 10 years after marriage, I would think unusual in the 1850's

LM