Do I have an image of George Blow's original death cert.? Views on correction?

[ARBELLA]

I am writing a non-fiction book about my Lincolnshire village. Here are two images of the very sad death certificate of a child born 100 years before me. I'd be most grateful for your expert thoughts on 2 queries.

 First, do you think the image with the correction below, bought from Lincolnshire County Council, is an image of the original death certificate for little George Blow, with the exact 'marks' and signature made by witnesses to his death, and to the correction of his record?

I'm assuming the smaller image, bought from the General Register Office, comes from the quarterly return by the Registrar? It has the same information as the Lincs CC version, in the same columns, but has a handwritten number & extra underlining (and part of another record is visible above).

Secondly, do you think that corrections to death certificates were common? And do you have any thoughts on this one, please? As you'll see, the cause of death should have been 'Typhoid Fever - certified'. Presumably Mary Ann Blow, the (locally controversial!) mother of this illegitimate child, had a doctor's certificate - but I am unclear if she brought this when first registering her son's death on 20 Sept 1856 (the day he died). Dr Eminson of Scotter, Lincs, who had been Registrar for at least 8 yrs, did not enter typhoid on the 20 Sept certificate. He incorrectly wrote, under 'Cause of Death', 'Son of Mary Ann Blow', and copied this in his (?) quarterly return.

It is clear from the correction that the child's mother returned on Oct 12 , and must definitely have had written proof of the 'certified' typhoid by then. I think the witness who signed the correction was Mary Ann Blow's older and more prosperous neighbour, Mary Herrick. She signed her maiden name in similar handwriting when she married in 1826, although by 1856 she may have been unsure about the spelling of her married name! As Mary Ann, George's mother, twice signed with a 'mark', it is not clear if she could read well enough to spot errors on the Sept 20 certificate. It is also possible that she was overcome by grief during her Sept 20 visit, which may have led her or the Registrar to make mistakes.

I would be fascinated by your views on this very sad but intriguing document! Thank you again for your time.

[AntonyMMM]

The terminology you need is "original death registration" there is no "original certificate" - a certificate is always a certified copy of something else.

Corrections to death register entries probably aren't as common as those on births, but they do happen. People make mistakes. It may well have been the registrar who spotted the problem when preparing his quarterly returns at the end of September.

The certificate you have from Lincolnshire does look like it has been made by copying the original register entry. Most simple corrections would be written in the margin. Being quite a long note this one was probably written at the bottom of the register page - but I've seen corrections written on slips of paper stuck into the register before.

So it looks like they have managed to copy the register entry and the correction note separately and then combined them onto the certificate blank for you. If it is is important a polite enquiry to the Lincolnshire registration office who supplied it for you would hopefully get an explanation.

Your second image isn't a certificate -  it is an image of the copy of the quarterly return sent by the registrar to GRO.

It illustrates nicely the limitations of using the digital download service. The underlining on the entry shows that there have been some changes made, but the digital download doesn't show the marginal notes, so you can't see what those changes were - they would be shown on a pdf or paper certificate version of the entry.

[hanes teulu]

These are the schedules to the 1836 bill proposing registration of births, deaths and marriages 1837. The formats appear correct but there seems to be some confusion in filling in the details!

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1836_(33)_Registration_of_Births_%26c._A_bill_for_registering_Births_Deaths_and_Marriages_in_England/Schedules

Had you spotted this newspaper snippet that appears to be your Mary Ann Blow. On the 1851 Census there is a Mary Ann Blow in the employ of Thomas and Ann Boswell (as transcribed) in Willoughton. The original is not at all clear. There is a coulpe in 1841 that could be them under Borrill.

Lincolnshire Chronicle 8 Apr 1853

[ARBELLA]

The terminology you need is "original death registration" there is no "original certificate" - a certificate is always a certified copy of something else.

Corrections to death register entries probably aren't as common as those on births, but they do happen. People make mistakes. It may well have been the registrar who spotted the problem when preparing his quarterly returns at the end of September.

The certificate you have from Lincolnshire does look like it has been made by copying the original register entry. Most simple corrections would be written in the margin. Being quite a long note this one was probably written at the bottom of the register page - but I've seen corrections written on slips of paper stuck into the register before.

So it looks like they have managed to copy the register entry and the correction note separately and then combined them onto the certificate blank for you. If it is is important a polite enquiry to the Lincolnshire registration office who supplied it for you would hopefully get an explanation.

Your second image isn't a certificate -  it is an image of the copy of the quarterly return sent by the registrar to GRO.

It illustrates nicely the limitations of using the digital download service. The underlining on the entry shows that there have been some changes made, but the digital download doesn't show the marginal notes, so you can't see what those changes were - they would be shown on a pdf or paper certificate version of the entry.

Thank you very much! Your very clear explanation has answered all my queries about the document supplied by Lincolnshire County Council.

Your point about the limitations of the GRO’s digital image service is a very important one. As a very amateur researcher, I have been considering which is the most reliable format and service to use, when I am trying to find out as much as possible about a birth or death.

I originally ordered paper copies of birth or death certificates from the GRO, as I thought they would be a more enduring record than a digital record from the GRO’s PDF service. A few months ago I noticed that the GRO had a new, almost immediate service for supplying digital images. I ordered a few. These did appear to answer my queries very quickly! But I began to realise that these entries must be taken from some kind of return, copied by the Registrar from the original registration. I thought that the particular digital image for George’s death might not contain all the information which was available.

Very recently, I read some online comments about research (for which haven’t saved the link)! These pointed out that a Registrar’s quarterly returns might contain copying mistakes. A link was given to Lincolnshire County Council’s service for supplying paper copies. I did ., and use it. I am impressed that they supplied the correction to George’s death registration, which has given me vital information about the child’s death.

I intend to obtain Lincolnshire County Council’s paper copies of birth and death registrations in future, as I hope these will be more enduring and more informative than the GRO’s quick digital images taken from the quarterly returns! I am very grateful to you for highlighting the difference between the two different services.
Thank you for your time and expertise!

[ARBELLA]

These are the schedules to the 1836 bill proposing registration of births, deaths and marriages 1837. The formats appear correct but there seems to be some confusion in filling in the details!

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1836_(33)_Registration_of_Births_%26c._A_bill_for_registering_Births_Deaths_and_Marriages_in_England/Schedules

Had you spotted this newspaper snippet that appears to be your Mary Ann Blow. On the 1851 Census there is a Mary Ann Blow in the employ of Thomas and Ann Boswell (as transcribed) in Willoughton. The original is not at all clear. There is a coulpe in 1841 that could be them under Borrill.

Lincolnshire Chronicle 8 Apr 1853

Thank you very much for the interesting link to the 1836 formats! I have read the information and saved the link carefully for further use.

It is extremely kind of you to send the newspaper report and to look up the Census entries. Although I had found the newspaper report, I only did so very recently...

Yes, this is the right couple, thank you. Mary Ann Blow was the very young employee of Thomas, a much older farmworker. I can honestly say that intriguing information about them fills most of a chapter in my current plan for my book. I would run out of space if I told you all the twists and turns in their story as I know it – and Mary Ann’s next relationship was still more startling...

Your kind reply does give me a chance to ask one question. I find the British Newspaper Archive extraordinarily difficult to use. I tend to approach it via my subscription to ‘Find my Past’, especially as that allows me to ‘clip’ images of selected text.

Do you have any advice, please, on searching the British Newspaper Archive for a name which might have many variants? Thomas, in this story, is a nightmare! His first name stays consistent. But his surname appear in records as Borill, Borel, Boswell, Borrell... A Vicar and the village historian, who would both have heard the name spoken, both recorded it as ‘Burrell’.

What would be the best way to enter this surname to look for newspaper items about Thomas, either via FindmyPast or directly via the British Newspaper Archive? Could I use a few letters of his surname and a wild card symbol such as an asterisk?

Of course, if Mary Ann Blow is in the same item, I can usually find it via her name! But Thomas lived a long time, and there may be articles which only feature a version of his name...

Thank you so much for your generous help so far! Any search tips for Thomas will be greatly appreciated – although he may be an intractable problem! Your advice might help with another slightly less tricky name in the future. Thank you again!

[hanes teulu]

I favour BNA although FindMyPast's fairly recently introduced Advanced Search was a move in the right direction with it's "phrase flexibility"
As for using the "*" why not search for Thomas Borrill on BNA and then search for Thomas Borr*ll - see the difference. FindMyPast seems happy with "*" in search but not BNA?
I'd spotted several articles re.Thomas Borrill other than his being brought to court to provide Mary Ann with 2 bob a week - interesting!
As for searching "less is more" as they say - eg. to allow for OCR misreads. But Thomas is so common.

[AntonyMMM]

I originally ordered paper copies of birth or death certificates from the GRO, as I thought they would be a more enduring record than a digital record from the GRO’s PDF service. A few months ago I noticed that the GRO had a new, almost immediate service for supplying digital images. I ordered a few. These did appear to answer my queries very quickly! But I began to realise that these entries must be taken from some kind of return, copied by the Registrar from the original registration. I thought that the particular digital image for George’s death might not contain all the information which was available.

To avoid any misunderstanding ....

ALL GRO supplied records - whether a paper certificate, a PDF, or a digital image are taken from the quarterly returns copied and sent in from the local registration offices (who hold the original registers).

Each of the three ordering options will get you exactly the same information, and use the same image - the exception being that digital image option won't show any marginal note if one is present ( PDF and paper certificates will), but that isn't because it isn't there on the copy held by GRO it is because the automatic cropping process that produces the digital image cuts it off. The fact that there has been a correction and therefore there should be a marginal note of some kind, is shown by the underlining.

Errors creeping in during the quarterly return process (or during copying and indexing within GRO) are always possible and are certainly known to have happened, but are not very common. What GRO have should (hopefully) match what is on the original register.

Obtaining paper certificates from the local offices is as close to the original source as you can get, but will cost you a lot more and there is no guarantee they will send you a certificate made by photocopying the actual register - they may just copy the information out by hand onto a blank certificate.

My preferred option is almost always to use the much cheaper digital image option whenever available and then I can always choose to order a PDF or certificate if I think it necessary later. It makes research a lot quicker and much cheaper.

[ARBELLA]

I favour BNA although FindMyPast's fairly recently introduced Advanced Search was a move in the right direction with it's "phrase flexibility"
As for using the "*" why not search for Thomas Borrill on BNA and then search for Thomas Borr*ll - see the difference. FindMyPast seems happy with "*" in search but not BNA?
I'd spotted several articles re.Thomas Borrill other than his being brought to court to provide Mary Ann with 2 bob a week - interesting!
As for searching "less is more" as they say - eg. to allow for OCR misreads. But Thomas is so common.

Thank you very much! I will try this and see what more I can learn about Thomas. Your suggestions are a great help!

[ARBELLA]

I originally ordered paper copies of birth or death certificates from the GRO, as I thought they would be a more enduring record than a digital record from the GRO’s PDF service. A few months ago I noticed that the GRO had a new, almost immediate service for supplying digital images. I ordered a few. These did appear to answer my queries very quickly! But I began to realise that these entries must be taken from some kind of return, copied by the Registrar from the original registration. I thought that the particular digital image for George’s death might not contain all the information which was available.

To avoid any misunderstanding ....

ALL GRO supplied records - whether a paper certificate, a PDF, or a digital image are taken from the quarterly returns copied and sent in from the local registration offices (who hold the original registers).

Each of the three ordering options will get you exactly the same information, and use the same image - the exception being that digital image option won't show any marginal note if one is present ( PDF and paper certificates will), but that isn't because it isn't there on the copy held by GRO it is because the automatic cropping process that produces the digital image cuts it off. The fact that there has been a correction and therefore there should be a marginal note of some kind, is shown by the underlining.

Errors creeping in during the quarterly return process (or during copying and indexing within GRO) are always possible and are certainly known to have happened, but are not very common. What GRO have should (hopefully) match what is on the original register.

Obtaining paper certificates from the local offices is as close to the original source as you can get, but will cost you a lot more and there is no guarantee they will send you a certificate made by photocopying the actual register - they may just copy the information out by hand onto a blank certificate.

My preferred option is almost always to use the much cheaper digital image option whenever available and then I can always choose to order a PDF or certificate if I think it necessary later. It makes research a lot quicker and much cheaper.

Thank you! That's most illuminating. I did not know that all the GRO records came from the quarterly returns.

I will check the few recent digital images I have for any underlining! I'm most grateful for your time and expertise. It obviously matters a great deal to understand the basic sources used for research. Thank you again.