Birth registration rules in 1901 UK

[Whipby]

Thank you, everyone, for all the information - it’s so useful.

How common was it for a child’s birth to go completely unregistered in the mid 1870s?  Was that even possible?  I haven’t been able to find my ancestor even though I’ve tried everything I can think of - different spellings, sounds like, searching different years, different areas, etc.

She obviously doesn’t want to be found!

I would agree certainly possible. I'm sure I've heard that something like 5% of births were not registered. However, here is a little task for you... why not see if you can find birth registration of any siblings? This would determine what registration district these the births fell into thus reducing the area you are having to search.  Equally if you are not finding the birth registrations of any siblings (or maybe only some) you can deduce that these parents were busy/scatty/not concerned and were just 'non registerers' and then focus on searching for a baptism. 

CD

Thank you for the suggestion - this is something I’ve already done, and I’ve found the registrations for her siblings, in the district I’d expect them to be.

The difference is that my direct ancestor - who was the last child - must’ve been illegitimate, born a few years after her supposed ‘father’ had died.  I’ve even looked at census returns to check out the neighbours, and then searched to see whether there might be a registration for her under one of those surnames. thinking that perhaps one of them was the father.  But nothing has ever come of anything I’ve tried.  I’ve also tried searching just under her two forenames, regardless of surname, and then looked in the censuses for any children that I found, in order to rule them out.

I’ve tried everything I can think of, and have been trying for years to find her - but if anyone has any suggestions as to what I might try next, please let me know, I’m happy to give anything a go!

[Whipby]

I have only half of a family baptised before they became orphans, a real shame as I have for years searched for one person, no registration and no baptism   not found till he married,  never found his date of birth either, with the help of others I became a super sleuth , why only register half of the siblings and only one baptism?

LM .

A very frustrating mystery!  I hope you solve it eventually.

I have a family missing from the 1901 census.  Again, I’ve tried every permutation I can think of to find them, but have come up with nothing.  I wouldn’t have expected them to have left the country, but that’s one avenue I haven’t explored yet.

[LizzieL]

It is handy, when such people whose birth reg cannot be found, lived to the 1921 census or 1939 register, at least there are more chances of the month and day being accurate. I have an ancestor's sister also born in Essex in late 1852, and on the 1939 register she says 29 Dec 1852 and she was baptised 30 Jan 1853 but no birth reg has ever been found and I have thought outside the box in searches.

Unfortunately my g-g mother didn't make it to 1939, but her age is all over the place on other sources

1861  - age 7
married 18 Jan 1870 - age 17
1871 - over a year later - still age 17 
1881 - 27
1891 - 36
1901 - 46
1911 - 60, but looking at the image "60" has been written over either 56 or 58 ( my great grandfather could not sign his name on marriage record but my g-g mother signed, so I wonder who actually filled in the census form)
1921 - 65 years and 5 months  (she filled in the form herself as g-g father died in 1914)
death 9 Jan 1924  age 71 (death registered  by boarder / live in employee who was also with her in 1921)

From the odd 5 months mentioned in 1921, I am guessing her birthday may have been in January, but whether she had just had her birthday in the year of her marriage or of her death, or it was still to come is anybody's guess.

[coombs]

I guess we can become too determined to find ancestors, hoping to get back further and find answers to our questions, when there are just some questions that we cannot answer. And as we know when we get back to pre 1800 the waters get murkier. In the case of it usually gets harder the further back you go. Many did not leave a will or did not have to come under the poor law authorities, and many of the poor law records do not survive. Witnesses to marriages often drawing a blank, many being merely friends or neighbours or church officials. Even during the 1837 onwards era it can be tricky at the best of times. Common names do not help, so the troubles will be greater for pre census and civil reg eras.

[louisa maud]

My search gave me a marriage with initials of H.A, I found a 1851with an initial A, no place of birth of any of the family and by 1861 the parents were both dead,  A was living with an uncle Henry  whilst it appears  the rest of the family were in workhouse schools, I believe A took on the H from his uncle and after that he was H. A, took some working out but it all fitted in, his mother and Henry's  wife was sisters, made sense to me but I still  found no registration or baptism, wonder how many others would accept this explanation?

LM .

[Whipby]

Sometimes we do have to make a judgement on the probability of something being correct, I think, otherwise we’d never be able to move on with our research.

In one branch of my family, everything further back than 1851 relies on one 16 year old girl who was living with her grandmother instead of her parents and siblings.  She’s the only person I can find who fits, but if in the future I find something that proves her not to be correct, then all the previous ancestors will be wrong too.  It’s something I revisit now and again.

[louisa maud]

Another relative I just could  not find and he turned out to  have his registration with Christian  names wrong way round  and a different surname, on 1881 they were then all  named after the man she lived with and never married after having at least 9 children with him, what a complicated life?, and even then she went on to marry someone else and left her partner in a workhouse , using another  surname,  don't  know how she got away with it, sadly for me  she missed the 1911ccensus.

LM

[Whipby]

Another relative I just could  not find and he turned out to  have his registration with Christian  names wrong way round  and a different surname, on 1881 they were then all  named after the man she lived with and never married after having at least 9 children with him, what a complicated life?, and even then she went on to marry someone else and left her partner in a workhouse , using another  surname,  don't  know how she got away with it, sadly for me  she missed the 1911ccensus.

LM

Wow, that’s a complicated one!  It’s a wonder you managed to find them at all!  I did have a whole family registered under a completely different surname in one census - luckily all the first names were correct, plus they were where I expected them to be.  I was in contact at one point with a distant relative, who told me that they’d used a different surname because the father had been a poacher and was worried about being tracked down!

[louisa maud]

It's a bit like being a detective sometimes  but enjoyable. LM