Finding DOB from date of death

[Lucifera]

Hello - I'm looking through some birth, marriage and death certificates that my mother had (she died in 2009) and writing up some notes for cousins. I have a death certificate but no birth certificate for my great-grandfather; is there an easy way to get his DOB?

Hi Lucifera,

Have you looked at any on-line genealogy websites - try Free BMD, you might get lucky if you know roughly his age at death and where he would have been born.

thanks so much Chat, I will look at that one - just starting to look and finding some of the genealogy sites rather baffling and hard to navigate but I expect pracice will help.

or practice, even

If you want to PM me with any details, I can have a look round the sites I use for you?

oh that is kind of you Chat. My great-grandfather Henry Willard Harding married 22 August 1882 aged 23 (in the Parish Church of St Mary, Lambeth, London and died 4th February 1930 in the Cottage Hospital, Egham, Surrey aged 70. I don't know if he was born in London, or his DOB. His wife was Mary Ann Waite. I'd be very grateful for any more information you can find!

Sorry to butt in, but I am looking for you too, on Ancestry. I can see the marriage and death dates you mention in the indexes.

I won't be able to get you an exact date (maybe LeChatROuge will), but while I'm here ... I can see him in the birth indexes for the first quarter of 1860 (which could also mean a birth very late in 1859, registered in Jan, I beleve). District of birth is Horsham, Sussex. In order to get the exact date, I think you might need to order the certificate - unless Free BMD has more info available than I am aware of (I don't use it much as most of my family is Scottish, so I use other sites).

Did he have a son also called Henry Willard Harding? Born late 1884, died late 1896 or early 1897? :( Both of those entries show up too; both in Windsor, Surrey.

Henry Senior shows up in the National Probate Calendar, too.

I think there are various census entries as well.

You can get a free Ancestry membership for a week or two if you hand over card details; they are fine about cancelling it after the two weeks as long as you remember to ring up.

Good luck :)

I found Henry Willard Harding born Q1 1860 in Shipley, W. Sussex - the birth was registered in Horsham.

In 1881 he was living in West Chiltington with his parents, Robert and Mary and working as a carpenter.

1891 - Harrow Cottages, Denham Rd, Egham, Surrey with Mary Ann and children Hugh, Henry and Marion. Still working as a carpenter and his brother Herbert also lived with them.

Aah - I found a family tree - this shows his baptism as 30th October 1959 in Shipley.

Robert was born in Shipley on 7th April 1838 and married Mary Ann Willard on 21st August 1958. They had 9 children.

Thie tree has records going back to 1729! If you PM me I can email you a scan of the tree.

oh thank you all of you so much, this is fantastic! Portofino, Marion was my mother's mother, my nanny, she died in 1970 when I was 16 or 17, the only grandparent I knew. I have a certificate showing that Hugh paid for a burial plot in 1930, I guess after his father died. I feel like crying, god, I wish so much I'd tried to investigate while my mother was alive, she died in October 2009. DirtyMartini, thanks hugely for looking too -I will put some more effort into this myself! thanks for info re ancestry websites. Portofino, will PM you - thank you thank you all of you

That's fab

But do just be a bit careful about believing other people's research 100% ... I have found a lot of information from other trees myself, but sometimes you do find that the other person has made some wrong assumptions.

xpost! You're hooked now

yes DM, also I've found that official records can be wrong too, for example my grandmother's DOB varies on different certificates! Will bear in mind what you say!