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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you know your exact place of birth?

156 replies

Toffeesgirl · 07/09/2023 17:31

Not the City but the name and address of the hospital (assuming, of course, you were born in hospital).

I ask because I am filling in a form which asks just this. Now I was born nearly 60 years ago in a non-UK but European city (I am British). I do know the hospital was knocked down about 50 years ago but as Mum is no longer with us and my Dad is very confused, I don't have a clue which one. Google tells me that there was a mass building post-war clearance in the 1970s but, oddly enough, not a list of all the hospitals (sarcasm). I was registered at the British Consulate which just lists the city name as place of birth.

The form which asks for it, is an important document I need for a new job (bit like a dbs) but apparently this piece of information is vital! The office I spoke to is checking with a higher authority but in case I need to argue my case, I just wondered if this is a piece of information that everybody else is aware of.

OP posts:
BunnyBunnyJabberJabber · 07/09/2023 21:26

I know nothing about my family other than the details on my birth certificate. I just give the address on that for anything official ( employer background vetting, enhanced DBS, Passport etc) and I have never had any problems.

Fluffyowls · 07/09/2023 21:30

I know the name of the hospital I was born in. I also know the addresses of the houses my parents were born in.

I know the exact room of the hospital my DH was born in as MIL was delighted when DS was born in exactly the same room 30 years later.

YouCantBeSadHoldingACupcake · 07/09/2023 21:45

Yes, I gave birth in the hospital I was born in, and my midwife was the one who delivered me and my sister. I live in a really small area though.

KimberleyClark · 07/09/2023 21:47

Yes. The maternity home I was born in was demolished and a block of flats built on the site. I live a couple of miles away from there.

Hellocatshome · 07/09/2023 21:51

Yes because there is only one hospital in the town I was born in and a regular story at family parties is how I was born in the car park of the hospital in the back of my DFs Ford Cortina.

UsingChangeofName · 07/09/2023 21:52

I know. (I am the same age as you). However, I was born at home, and I know the address my parents lived at then (although we moved when I was 3).

Seems an odd thing to ask for, but, as others have said, birth certificate just gives the City, so if they insisted on wanting you to name a hospital, I'd just put one down and get them to disprove it.

KickingEAP · 07/09/2023 21:54

I was born in the same place my children were, and it is now my place of work. I expect I'll die there too.

ParentingSolo · 07/09/2023 22:05

My mum was born during early 1940s and has the exact address of where she was born

JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn · 07/09/2023 22:26

I was born in my mum and dads bedroom in the house I grew up so I know the address. My older siblings were born in the hospital about 12 miles away from our home address so yes, although the hospital is long gone I know where it was.

BotterMon · 07/09/2023 22:28

Yes but I was born at home. DC were born abroad and it just states the area of the capital city they were born in but not the name of the hospital. I do know it but not sure they do!

Loadedbydeath · 07/09/2023 23:04

Toffeesgirl · 07/09/2023 17:31

Not the City but the name and address of the hospital (assuming, of course, you were born in hospital).

I ask because I am filling in a form which asks just this. Now I was born nearly 60 years ago in a non-UK but European city (I am British). I do know the hospital was knocked down about 50 years ago but as Mum is no longer with us and my Dad is very confused, I don't have a clue which one. Google tells me that there was a mass building post-war clearance in the 1970s but, oddly enough, not a list of all the hospitals (sarcasm). I was registered at the British Consulate which just lists the city name as place of birth.

The form which asks for it, is an important document I need for a new job (bit like a dbs) but apparently this piece of information is vital! The office I spoke to is checking with a higher authority but in case I need to argue my case, I just wondered if this is a piece of information that everybody else is aware of.

Yes, but it was an RAF married quarter on a base that has since been demolished.

MCOut · 07/09/2023 23:11

Yes. I was born in another country and the name of the hospital is on my birth certificate.

murasaki · 07/09/2023 23:22

Yes, as it is still one of the city's main hospitals. No to ward, but yes to hospital.

NewLifter · 07/09/2023 23:31

Yes, I know the full address and postcode because I now work in the same hospital (as a midwife!)

Longlive · 08/09/2023 15:18

I've just recieved a new copy of my Scottish birth cert as I had lost mine and actually it has the exact location, on it. Although the maternity home dosnt exist now.

It also has the time on it. 2 mins passed midnight. My DS's English cert dosnt have the time.

DahliaMacNamara · 08/09/2023 16:14

Mine (also Scottish) has the time on it too. My mother always said it was the wrong time. I can't remember what time it actually was. I mean, I can't remember what time she told me, not that I should recall the event itself.

TigerRag · 08/09/2023 16:19

Yes but it's been knocked down

AuntMarch · 08/09/2023 16:22

Yes... but I live about 3 miles away from it and gave birth there myself so it would be odd if I didn't!

TheAOEAztec · 08/09/2023 16:31

Toffeesgirl · 07/09/2023 19:52

This has reminded me of all the other questions I wish I'd asked my darling mum before she passed away 😥

And also, how little official paperwork or information I have from my childhood. We moved around a lot and other than my birth certificate and a very grubby handwritten vaccination certificate, I don't have anything until we came to the UK when I was a teenager.

Ive googled hospitals in X in 196X but no joy other than one that was built in 1965, no joy. However, as someone has said, if I don't know it, I don't know it but I am intrigued as to why they need to know.

Can you say which country? Lots of us immigrants here someone might know.

Tbh I don't think I have much more official paperwork than you, except school grades papers from pre and teenage years🤔

Hamsterfan · 08/09/2023 16:33

Yes because what was the maternity hospital named on my birth certificate is now a luxury hotel

Hamsterfan · 08/09/2023 16:34

Really don’t see how that is useful for something like a dbs check though. What it’s their reasoning for needed that much detail.

ratspeaker · 08/09/2023 16:35

The hospital is listed on my birth certificate but not the address though it’s given in Wikipedia.
2 of my kids were born there, again hospital name given but no street address

looking back through older family documents the only time Street address is given is when it was a home birth.

Scottish birth certificates give time of birth, but it seems they only do that in England if it’s a multiple birth, not sure about the rest of the UK or other countries.

xogossipgirlxo · 08/09/2023 16:45

Yes, only because there is one hospital in my home town and it’s on Hospital Street😂 How odd to ask for this information though. Why would it matter where exactly were you born?

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 08/09/2023 16:51

Yes I know the name of the hospital, though I have no idea if it still exists. I haven't lived in that county for 40 years. Easy enough to remember, as tye name is <birth town name> hospital.

zingally · 08/09/2023 16:59

I know what hospital I was born in (actually, it was a maternity home).
I've never been asked the name of the place on anything official though. Just the town is enough. The building itself still stands, but it closed as a maternity home not many years after my birth, and has been through various hands since.

That being said, just take an educated guess OP! If you know the street name, put that. If you know the building as it is now, put something like "London Road, in the building that was replaced by the Esso garage."
Or just "London Road Hospital, town name." is also fine.
If you know the rough date the hospital was knocked down, "London Road Hospital, demolished in 1980, town name." is also okay.

Even if you write down total bollocks, who - honestly - is going to waste their time looking?