Help determining a Birth date range

[Leon47]

Thanks again. Yes I guess quoted ages need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

This is a question about an Irish person, so there is no 1881 Census available (at least on the National Archives of Ireland site).

What I'm trying to get to grips with is this. If the dates and ages I provided for the person I mentioned in my original post are all correct, what age would that person be on 26th February 1901?

I think the answer is 19, which doesn't match the age of 20 quoted in an Imperial Yeomanry testation record of that date. The age 20 is also stated for this person on the 1901 Census taken at a Military Training camp (among the Yeomanry list).

Perhaps I do have the correct person and they added a year to their age when attesting? Was there a minimum age requirement for joining the Imperial Yeomanry in 1901?

[confusion]

This is a question about an Irish person, so there is no 1881 Census available (at least on the National Archives of Ireland site).

As far as I know there are no 1881 Irish census records available, there are a few earlier ones but the
areas they cover are very sporadic.

If the person is Irish have you tried to find his birth certificate?
Which should give the date of birth and names of parents

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/civil-search.jsp

Good luck

Jim

[coombs]

My mother in law died early in 1997 aged 79.
Her sister (Irish!) told everyone that she was 80,as she would have been that age in the August.
So the remembrance cards that were printed said she was 80.
Don't trust ages until you've seen a birth cert.

So she was born August 1917 then, so yes she was still 79 but until recently Koreans would have said she was "80".

The golden rule is of course, never trust ages on documents outside a birth certificate, and even then details could be fudged. I think it was 1953 that checking systems were introduced so it was much harder to fudge details on birth certs. In 1962, in Paddington, registrars said they were informed of births by midwives and hospitals, and how some babies born to immigrant parents were not being registered.

[garden genie]

You are over-thinking this Leon.

Officer - How old are you?
Recruit - About 20 I think, sir. Just let me work it out..
Officer - I'll put 20. As long as you are over 18 that is all that matters.

[Leon47]

Fair enough.  It seems I'm trying to come to a firm conclusion based on unreliable evidence.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

[Wexflyer]

Fair enough.  It seems I'm trying to come to a firm conclusion based on unreliable evidence.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

As already mentioned - why not eliminate all the doubt, by locating his actual birth registration?
If he was born in Ireland, they are publicly and freely available.
What was his name?

[aghadowey]

Is this the person you are looking for?

There is a John A TODD born Shankhill Belfast 1881 in the Imperial Yomenry in the Boer War.
He attested aged 20 yrs, can’t make out the months. 26th February 1901.
He served 1 yr and 94 days.
Mother Maria TODD 6 Glenfern St. Belfast.

1901 census shows mother Maria and other children-
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Shankhill/Glenfarne_Street/948533/
Birth for daughter Lavinia Jane who appears in 1901 census- mother Maria nee Coates-
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1877/03014/2104391.pdf
Birth- John Todd with mother Maria nee Coates:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1880/02854/2045932.pdf

[Leon47]

Thank you. Yes, that's the one. I had already found his birth registration but I hadn't traced that of Lavinia. Interesting that they had moved house quite a bit. I also discovered that the family had an earlier son, also named John Alexander but he sadly died under age 1.

So yes, that's one 'thread' of a search for this man that I've been following, based purely on two war photographs. That thread is not supported by any other information that I have, apart from the name John Alexander Todd (shown as John A Todd on the Attestation). The maiden name Coates and sibling names are new to me. I've found other John Todds with the same birth year but none of them throw up any link to Yeomanry. So this man is my best bet.

The other thread I've been following is 100% correct as it shows maiden names and addresses that are known to me, but at a later date (1911 Census and death in 1923).

The problem I'm having is confirming that the two threads I've been following are indeed for the same person.

It seems most likely that they are but the point of my post was because I've determined that, if they are the same person then, based on the age of 'John Alexander Todd' on the 1911 Census and on his death certificate, the Yeomanry 'John A Todd' should have been age 19 on Attestation, not 20.

It seem that I shouldn't rely too much on ages quoted, so maybe they are for the same man. It's a pity that dates of birth are never quoted on military documents - none that I've found anyway. That would help - if they were accurate of course.

Thanks again.

[aghadowey]

From attestation papers you have the name and address of John's mother which matches the 1901 census entry. The daughter Lavinia's birth registration confirms mother's Christian name and gives her maiden name. The birth I posted for John Todd lists the same parents. Not sure that there's any doubt this John Todd is the correct person.

Possibly mother Maria & son James-
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Court_Ward/Ariel_Street/147508/