Counterfeit birth certificates in 1920s?

[Noteventhebirdsareupyet]

I'm wondering if anyone knows whether birth certificates were fraudulently copied in the 1920s? I've discovered my grandfather's original birth certificate at the GRO but his birth parents are not the people he knew to be his parents. Now he had no idea of this original certificate and for his whole life used a birth certificate with his adoptive parents' details. I've searched the adoption microfiche myself and also paid the GRO to do a thorough search but my grandfather appears to have no adoption record. Now he was born in 1919, so given that adoption wasn't legally a practice until 1926, it's not surprising to me that he isn't on the adoption register but I simply cannot get my head around the fact that he had and used a birth certificate to obtain a passport and numerous other things throughout his life but this certificate appears to never have existed! I'm baffled now and starting to wonder if it could have been a fake. The only thing that tells me it wasn't, is because he said it had an A in the top corner and after his birth certificate was lost in the post, he was informed by someone trying to help him get a copy, that an A meant he was adopted. How can he have never been adopted and yet have been issued with a usable birth certificate/adoption certificate? Someone help me, I'm going mad trying to trace this!

[Jebber]

It’s quite possible that although he was brought up by the people he thought were his parents,  the adoption may not have take place until he was older. I may be wrong but I think 21 was the cut off point for adoption. You would need the see the date of issue on the certificate he used.

My in-laws brought up a baby from six weeks, but the  opportunity to adopt didn’t arise until  the child was ten years old..

[Noteventhebirdsareupyet]

Yes that date is eluding me and causing headaches! No idea when he could have been adopted. I am guessing post 1928 because there is a court file in 1928 pertaining to his mother's first marriage which cites his birth name, hence how I discovered his original birth identity.

I've searched the adoption indexes for 30 year span and found nothing.

[aghadowey]

I thought that adoption certificates were not available except by application of the person or a child if person has died?

[Dundee]

..... he said it had an A in the top corner and after his birth certificate was lost in the post, he was informed by someone trying to help him get a copy, that an A meant he was adopted.

That person gave him bad advice.  If a child was adopted the original birth certificate would have the full word 'adopted' noted on it.  A new short form birth certificate would be issued and specifically had no mention of an adoption, just the name, date of birth and sex.  No parents were named.

Is anyone still alive who actually saw this certificate?  He wouldn't have needed a birth certificate to do most things, lots of people did not have one and a stat. dec. would suffice.

Debra 

[wivenhoe]

What information on this document -

* I've discovered my grandfather's original birth certificate at the GRO but his birth parents are not the people he knew to be his parents.

 - enables you to see it as the birth record of your grandfather. What information about your grandfather did you use to locate the birth certificate on the GRO

* was your grandfather brought up with siblings?

[Dundee]

Just adding a link to the previous post.

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=881050.0

Debra 

[Dundee]

It is possible that he had a short certificate from his original birth registration which would name him as Harold Arthur Forrest KOSELJ and he would simply tell whoever he presented it to that he was only known by the first three names.  He would be quite entitled to do that as a personal preference as long as he wasn't doing it to commit fraud.   This short certificate would not have parents' names on it though.

In another scenario, if they attempted to have a search done for an original birth registration but were unable to locate it, you would expect to see a late registration in the indexes in order for a birth certificate to be issued. There doesn't seem to be one.

Are you sure it was a birth certificate and not a certificate of baptism?

Debra 

[Cell]

Along the same thought as Dundee's statement above, are you  sure it was  a full cert?

The few  of the original issued birth certs that I have from mine and hubbys relatives possessions ,such as hubby's grandparents are short ones. None of mine and hubby's families  had their  long certs that I know of.

I would take a good guess that most people back in the first half of the 1900s only ever had their short ones issued to them.
The short ones were very  low cost , or free I believe, where you had to pay for the longer ones.
 One  of our  old( hubby's  grandfather) original  short cert issued at his birth ( in1909)   , the writing on the back says  to not to exceed 3 pence.  The short ones were not  entirely free , but would have cost far less than  a full one )

My own original  issued one at my birth is a short one too,   and  I was born way, way  into the latter half of the 1900s   ( I guess my parent's were too tight  to pay for the long  one too, or really didnt see any need for a long one that would have cost them money) .

I have never  needed my long one for anything , driving licences, emigration , passport applications both ,  Aus and British ones, and  green cards in  Asia. I used my Short one on everything that needed a birth cert.
  The only one exception   that I  ever needed a long cert  was around 15 years ago , when I decided to send off  for  my 1st  Irish passport ( as my  Irish  citizenship  is through my  Irish  born  mother, I  needed my long cert to show my mum's name on it    unlike my British passport and my Aus  passports that didnt need my parents names on the cert).

Are you sure he had a long one showing his parents names ? As I find it really unusual that someone  back in  the 1920s would have had a long one, as if my family are anything to go by I  would  guess most people  only ever had short ones way back then  because of the cost and long ones weren't  really needed for anything.


It's  only  in very recent years that some organisations may ask for  the full ones. Don't  know which ones  though, as my hubby hasn't ever needed his long one for anything.
Unlike me, my hubby still hasn't  got his long cert.

Kind regards
Ps I think  a DNA test  will  be of some great  help to you . ( you said you'll get your mum to test on  the other thread). If you  can't get her to test, your own will be the next best thing to your mum's.