Proving someone was a British citizen

[whataboutbob]

I am trying to establish whether my grandmothers brother was British or not ( because his son, who I’ll call my cousin - he’s actually my mums - is looking into applying for British nationality). Gran’s brother was born in Glasgow to a British mother and a French father ( cousin has French nationality). To be able to be British cousin needs to prove his father was British when he (cousin) was born ( in France). He can’t remember his father ever having a British passport. Is there any way I can help at this end, by proving his dad was British? Where do I start😕? I live near the public record office, but I suspect they might not hold Scottish records. Thanks for any advice.

Does he have a copy of his fathers birth and death certificates? If not, that is where to start. I'm sure someone else with more experience though could advise.

I got a copy of his birth certificate. I guess my cousin might have a copy of his dad’s death certificate.

Ring the passport office advice line
They will be able to help
0300 222 0000

You can get birth certificates when you know the details - if it's long enough ago it will be on Free BMD.

Thanks for your advice folks. I have ordered the relevant birth certificates for my cousin. The tricky bit is proving his father never renounced his British nationality. Turns out you can passively be a certain nationality by birth according to the rules of the country concerned, but do nothing about it, never get a passport etc. I went to national archives yesterday to see if they have nationality renunciation records but they’d just closed due to coronavirus and don’t know when they’ll open again .

@whataboutbob- Best of luck OP and let us know how you get on x

You should be able to find your great-uncle's birth details and order a certificate here; www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Thanks @StopGo I just did, and they’ll send the certificate straight to my cousin 😊. Will let you know how it goes. Things likely to take longer due to you-know-what!

@whataboutbob if he renounced his British nationality there will be a record of it.

If your Gran’s brother was born in UK prior to 1.1.83 he will be a British Citizen by birth, which makes his children (provided they were born in wedlock) British by descent. His children will need the marriage certificate as well, and a certified translation if it’s not in English.

The chances are, if he never bothered getting a passport, and had another nationality, he won’t have renounced his nationality, not least because you need to pay to do so. What is his other nationality? Do they recognise dual nationality?

This is everyone. Things have moved on a little bit it’s limited as coronavirus has shown down the gathering of info. I got my great uncles birth certificate from Scotland’s people and they sent it directly to my mums cousin in Frances which is good. Mums cousin also wants his paternal grandmothers BC ( British born in London) but although I ordered it one month ago it still hasn’t arrived. He’s been in touch with an organisation called Sable who have told him he’s definitely British and they can prove it for £350. He also ordered a certificate of non renouncement of British nationality from the national archives for about £20. I feel we could do all the further necessary paperwork between the two of us but it will have to be post Corona.
His other nationality is French. I told him it’s weird a EU citizen wanting British nationality (!) but he wants it purely for symbolic reasons and to complete his family story.
Thanks everyone for your help.

“ Thanks everyone “!

Just adding the gov.uk instructions page
www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-british-parent/born-before-1983

Thanks @ PlanDeRaccordement that is a really useful link which I will forward to mums cousin.

Please don’t pay an organisation £350. He doesn’t need to. He can just apply for a passport. If your cousin applies for a passport they should also check to see if he has renounced British nationality as part of the process. As it’s a first passport application, they should do the checks.

Echoing please don't pay an organisation!!

Myself, DH and DS are all dual nationality French and British; there's no issue having both.

Thanks everyone. I have encouraged him not to go down the paid organisation route. I’m available on the ground to help with paperwork so hopefully we’ll do it between the 2 of us.