Certified copy of Birth certificate

[Leon47]

I'm just starting to trace my family history. I have a document for my maternal Grandmothers birth and I have a question.

The document is headed CERTIFIED COPY OF ENTRY OF BIRTH and it also says 'Issued for the purposes of: W.O and O.A Contributory Pension'. The birth date is 10/12/1891

It looks like an original document, with hand written entries in fountain pen, including a mistake duly numbered and initialled at the side. It also has the Registrars signature and a X as 'her mark' of a witness at the birth. Actually there is a Registrars signature in the main body of the form and an Assistant Registrars signature at the bottom right. The assistant obviously used a different pen.

The only thing that looks modern is an official Registrars Office stamp, at the bottom, showing the date 31st August 1953.

So my question is, is this really an actual copy of the original? Did they have photocopiers in 1953? If not, did someone literally sit down with a blank form and hand write all the details again, including copying the signatures? Seems unlikely to me.

I thought this was an original until my wife noticed the date stamp. Now I'm confused.

Thanks for any clarification.

[KGarrad]

Is this England? Or another country?
What Registration District?

All Birth Certificates issued in England and Wales are "Certified Copy".

I would assume that a copy was needed in order to claim a pension when reaching retirement age.
Your grandmother would have been 64 in 1953.

[louisa maud]

1953, was it for pension rights?.from her birth date I assume she might be eligible for a pension and needed a cert to clarify her date of birth, just a thought

LM

[Fanflame]

I agree with the others. I have inherited lots of old certificates many of which are for similar purposes of claiming prension at pensionable age, or from family after their death requiring a certified copy of their birth certificate for probate.
Fanflame

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

Widows Orphans and Old Age Contributory Pension.

If issued in 1953 for someone born in 1891 it will be a transcribed version of the information held by the local registrar and supplied either by the local registrar or the General Register Office.

[Leon47]

Thanks everyone. It is "Registration of Births in Northern Ireland".

I think Glen has it correct. Although the person in question was not actually a widow at the time (1953). She became one in 1964, so that's a bit odd. Perhaps the husband who later passed away became ill for those remaining years. I do have his death certificate and senility is mentioned.

Anyway, the words 'transcribed version' are interesting to me. Does that mean that what I have in my hand was filled in, in 1953, by a person looking at the original and hand copying all the details onto a blank form, including mistakes and signatures and initialled mistakes?

Seems odd to me but there you go.

Thanks again. I'm sure I will have loads of questions in future. Glad to see this forum is active.

[Kiltaglassan]

Welcome to RootsChat, Leon47 

Thanks everyone. It is "Registration of Births in Northern Ireland".

Here's the 1925 Act for Northern Ireland.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisro/1926/98/pdfs/nisro_19260098_en.pdf

[AntonyMMM]

Anyway, the words 'transcribed version' are interesting to me. Does that mean that what I have in my hand was filled in, in 1953, by a person looking at the original and hand copying all the details onto a blank form, including mistakes and signatures and initialled mistakes?

Yes they did.

All certificates are copies of something else (a register entry), so there is never really anything that can be called an "original certificate", and they will usually have any errors that were on the original reproduced.

The signatures are written by the person copying out the certificate - they should be in the same "form" as on the original register, but they wouldn't make any attempt to copy them exactly.

[Leon47]

Welcome to RootsChat, Leon47 

Thanks everyone. It is "Registration of Births in Northern Ireland".

Here's the 1925 Act for Northern Ireland.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisro/1926/98/pdfs/nisro_19260098_en.pdf

Thank you.