I can't find Esther Ann Eaves on GRO - am I missing something?

[Sandrafamilytree]

Is it at all likely that my ancestor’s birth wasn’t registered? I can’t find them on GRO or FreeBMD.

My ancestor is Esther Ann Eaves, born in Bures St Mary (Sudbury District) around 1840 and died in 1879 in South Shields District at the stated age of 39 (by then she was Esther Ann Gardiner).

Via Ancestry I found baptism records showing she was baptised in Bures St Mary on 4 October 1840. Her parents were given as John and Harriet Eaves (nee Causton) who had at least six children in Bures St Mary approx every three years between 1837 and 1852. Esther appears on Census records with her parents and these siblings in 1841 and 1851.

I wanted to check the information I found by consulting GRO. However, I can’t find an Esther Ann Eaves on FreeBMD, nor on the GRO index.

I have tried earlier birth years back to 1837 just in case she was older than I thought and baptised late; variations of surname; not limiting the search to Suffolk; searching (on FreeBMD and Ancestry) for Esther Ann and no surname; and searching for just Esther and no surname, but to no avail. I can find Esther’s siblings on GRO easily.

In your experience, do you think it is likely the birth was never registered? I recently read an article from someone who said that very few births weren’t registered, and that it was too easy to use that as an excuse!

[maddys52]

I'm sure others could explain it better, but it's my understanding that civil registration of births began on 1 July 1837, but was not actually compulsory until 1874, or at least in an amendment to the Act parents would now be fined for not registering their children's births.

So it's quite possible that your Esther Ann EAVES was not registered, or it has not survived. An interesting, though long, read about the early days of civil registration here:
https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/early-civil-registration/

[garstonite]

Julia Frances Peck - has a tree
check it to see if it corresponds with yours ?
Esther Ann Eaves
Born about 1840 - Bures St Mary, Suffolk, England
Baptized 4 October 1840 - Bures, Suffolk, England
Deceased in December 1879 - Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom, aged about 39 years old
 
Parents
John Eaves ca 1811-
Harriet ? ca 1812-
 
Spouses and children
Married in July 1861, Sudbury, Suffolk, England, to Henry Gardiner ca 1841- with
F Emily Esther Gardiner ca 1862-1895
F Hannah Eaves Gardiner 1863-1953
M Matthew Thomas Gardiner ca 1865-1927
F Ruth Elizabeth Gardiner ca 1867-1878
F Esther Ann Gardiner ca 1877-1914
(hide)
 

[Deirdre784]

I have several families where the children born in the early days of registration weren't registered but then the rest were. I try searching for baptisms then, which helps, but obviously not all are available online. Registration definitely improves from the 1870s.

Added: i have found very weird spelling of some names too, easily missed on GRO, freeBMD etc.
And if Edward was registered in 1837 it is then strange to miss out Esther.

[Sandrafamilytree]

Julia Frances Peck - has a tree
check it to see if it corresponds with yours ?
Esther Ann Eaves
Born about 1840 - Bures St Mary, Suffolk, England
Baptized 4 October 1840 - Bures, Suffolk, England
Deceased in December 1879 - Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom, aged about 39 years old
 
Parents
John Eaves ca 1811-
Harriet ? ca 1812-
 
Spouses and children
Married in July 1861, Sudbury, Suffolk, England, to Henry Gardiner ca 1841- with
F Emily Esther Gardiner ca 1862-1895
F Hannah Eaves Gardiner 1863-1953
M Matthew Thomas Gardiner ca 1865-1927
F Ruth Elizabeth Gardiner ca 1867-1878
F Esther Ann Gardiner ca 1877-1914
(hide)

Many thanks for your reply!

I’ve seen Julia’s tree and it broadly corresponds with mine, except that I thought Hannah Eaves Gardiner was just plain Hannah (as on the birth certificate visible on Julia’s tree) and I thought Matthew Thomas was Arthur Thomas.

I also think there were very probably more children to investigate. I have...

    • George Gardiner b 1871 (Sudbury registration)
    • Henry Gardiner b 1877 (South Shields registration)
    • Harriet Gardiner b 1879 (South Shields registration)

...all surname Gardiner and MMN Eaves (or plausible variants).

I think Esther Ann Gardiner’s parents were John Eaves and Harriet Cawston but I’m just puzzled why I can find a baptism but not a birth registration!

[KGarrad]

I was always given to understand that a significant number of people didn't approve of "Government interference" in what they considered to be the prerogative of the church.

Baptism was more important then birth, in their eyes.

[Gadget]

I think Esther Ann Gardiner’s parents were John Eaves and Harriet Cawston but I’m just puzzled why I can find a baptism but not a birth registration!

My 2x great grandparents had 7 children between 1830 and 1854. Only the last one's birth  was registered. The baptisms of all the others are recorded; the first two in Scotland and the remainder in Wales.

As other's have mentioned, although registration was introduced in 1837, it didn't become
compulsory until 1874. Since your ancestor was baptised, it is most likely that her parents didn't see the necessity of registering her birth or. even. didn't know about the requirement to do so.

Gadget

[Sandrafamilytree]

I have several families where the children born in the early days of registration weren't registered but then the rest were. I try searching for baptisms then, which helps, but obviously not all are available online. Registration definitely improves from the 1870s.

Added: i have found very weird spelling of some names too, easily missed on GRO, freeBMD etc.
And if Edward was registered in 1837 it is then strange to miss out Esther.

Thank you for replying.

Interesting to read that you have found baptism records but not registrations. The point you make about Edward (b 1837) being registered but then not Esther is what has been nagging me, especially as the subsequent children were registered too...
Jane 1843
Henry 1847
George 1849
Joseph 1853

You make a good point about oddly spelled surnames/transcriptions – I’ve found some of those! - that’s why I was trying to search by first name with spelling variants.

It looks like a fairly ‘normal’ family – marry in 1834 and then have (at least) six children at steady intervals.

I’m relatively new to family tree stuff (especially compared with the knowledgeable people on here!) and I now realise I’ve made some beginner mistakes/assumptions in my tree branches which I’m unravelling a bit.

So I have at the back of my mind – was Esther someone else’s child and taken in to that family, and if so I might never find the truth?

But then again – if she isn’t the biological child of John and Harriet then that would leave a six-year gap between Edward and Jane.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. 

[heywood]

Edward was baptised 17th September 1837 and registered in December quarter so that was very early in the civil registration process.

I wondered if Esther might have been a sickly child and baptised, as others have said, but civil registration was overlooked.

Anything could have happened,though, I realise.