Long shot but does anyone have any idea where i can start?

[RichmondReader]

My father (deceased) came to the UK from a Middle Eastern country. He had citizenship of that country but became a British citizen in the 60s. He had no birth certificates or records as he was born in a different middle eastern country and his family fled war and persecution when he was an infant, settling in the second Middle Eastern country (the one he was a citizen of before coming to the UK). On arrival in that second ME country, his family gave him a 'made up birthday' which he carried through for life. His name was never changed and his siblings were all born after they fled to the second country.

His parents, sisters and he are all deceased now. Whilst alive, he had no interest in finding out his 'real' date of birth and was a peaceful and content man with no particular curiousity or feeling around his past - just happy to be with my mum and have a life and career here. Now he is gone and I am interested in trying to find out more about his heritage and also whether I could apply for dual nationality to the country where he settled before UK, but obviously have no birth record for him.

Does anyone have a clue if this is even something worth trying to start on or whether it's probably hopeless? Not the end of the world if I can't trace his details but I'd love to know when he was born (I do know the city and country) but no date - even year is uncertain.

Thank you!

Have you looked to see if the country he was born in has a BMD register? (Birth marriage deaths)
In the U.K. it’s free to view and just gives basic information of name, DOB and place of birth, it’s a bit like a phone book.

I’ve added an example from the U.K. one.

If they do have one, that’s your best bet. Look a year or two either side of his presumed birth year and look by surname.

I am not entirely sure his birth would have been registered. It was the 30s and his mother (illiterate) did not 'want' him to be born where he was born (for religious/political reasons). It's a starting point though. Thank you

Do you have your parents' marriage certificate? There is a space on there for his father's name and occupation, so that might be worth looking at. You would then have your grandfather's name to search on.

I think somewhere @invisiblecat and certainly something I could order a copy of. Married in a chitchat in the UK. Thank you.

Chitchat?

HOW would phone think I was 'probably typing chitchat' and not church?? 🤦🏽‍♀️

Bit of a long shot given his background, but you could try a DNA test. See if that connects you to any close relatives.

I've ordered a copy of my parents marriage certificate as suggested by @invisiblecat to see if there is anything useful about my grandfather. I never met him (he died when my DDad was quite young) but a date of birth or occupation might help with a lead.

I have one living cousin in Australia that I have never met. He doesn't have anything useful to add! DNA test might or might not give me something - is Ancestry the best one?

For the UK population, Ancestry has the most users.

Did he attend school here? Old schools have log books. My school, for instance had an entry nearly 60 years ago, where a small number of children arrived and were registered at school and in the log book.

Often, if the school no longer exists, these are held in council archives.

The log book I read had the wording ‘ three immigrant boys arrived from Pakistan’. Local history told me that their parents had come to England to work in the mills.
Later entries in the log book, tell more about the school but also about other pupils and these boys.

It just might give you a lead or some real information about your DF. The logs are a fascinating piece of social history.

Editing to add, these boys, now grandparents are still in the same community, also with the date of birth of 01.01. and a year.

Another long shot @RichmondReader but if he became a British Citizen in the 60's, then there should be some official record of it. I think the records may be held in the National Archives.

He didn't attend school here, no. Arrived in mid-sixties aged around late twenties/early thirties and became a citizen. There is a record of that and I have it but it uses his passport birthday which is the one his mother gave him after fleeing.

Start by doing DNA test

DNA, Ancestry is best

I think it would be easier to help if you said which two countries he lived in pre the UK. Common enough that it shouldn’t be outing, and this is an anonymous forum. Then people may be able give you more tailored suggestions.
A dna test might help too though, it’s surprising what it can throw up. Ancestry as pp has said, has the biggest UK database, and you may find that other relatives connected further back, also came here.

My grandpa's birth was never registered - newly arrived parents who couldn't speak English and just didn't bother. Later, he adopted Rosh Hashanah of the year he was born as his birthday (because nobody could remember either the day or even the month). This was the birth date that was used on all official documents throughout his whole life without ever having a birth certificate. Before there was strict recording, it was quite easy to do. Whether that given you enough to gain dual citizenship, I do not know. Did he have a passport from another country?

My understanding is that birth certificates were not a thing in many ME countries for a long time. A friend of mine worked for an Arab Sheikh, born in what is now Dubai in the 1940s. He was literally born in a tent in the desert and had no idea what exact year he was born, never mind the date. When he came to getting a passport in the 1960s to travel to the UK to study he just picked a date (he chose Christmas Day as he thought it sounded fun!). He had no paperwork whatsoever to back it up, so unfortunately I think you will struggle to find anything “official”.

As others have said, a DNA test might flag up other relatives who have been able to uncover more information.

If he became a citizen here there may be a naturalisation record for him.

The National Archives holds records for anyone naturalised up to 1986

There's some guidance on this here:
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/naturalisation-british-citizenship/

There are a few issues I think you should consider. A lot of records remain restricted until 100 years after the birth date of the individual so you wouldn't necessarily be able to access them anyway.

If he was naturalised, you might not be able to apply for citizenship of that country as he may have lost the citizenship of that country. So even if you otherwise might have been able to apply, gaining citizenship elsewhere might void that. You'd have to look closely at the laws of the individual country.

Given he was born in the 1930s it likely makes it difficult to follow up via this route anyway but may be a possibility in the future. And I suspect its unlikely to give you much more information than you already have though.

A lot of country did not have a formal registration of birth until very recently. From what you say and the fact the period he was born was one which was unstable and dangerous I think it highly unlikely there will be a record in the country of his birth either. I do think you will find this a fairly dead end.

The final option is the DNA route. But the databases for people outside the English speaking west are much more limited. Even the regional ancestry profiles for certain parts of the world are still limited. From what I've seen its still really in its infancy for the Middle East with areas huge and I suspect not really able to tell you a huge amount more than you already know. At this stage, but this may be an option in the future.

So if I'm honest, I think you have a limited number of options.

What might be out there is perhaps a religious record relating to his parents from the country of his origin. This would depend on you knowing their names. (This might be where a naturalisation record might help). It would depend on whether they had common names and whether they moved from where they were born. But its a possibility. (If you knew your great grandparents names it might help in this too). You'd need an experienced local researcher for that as its unlikely to be something you could do yourself. Or you might be able to find similar for older siblings of your father if you can't find your grandparents.

I'd say, that this is possibly your best shot at present - but tracking down a reputable local researcher in itself may be difficult. It depends entirely on which countries we are talking about.

OK so the countries:

He happened to be born in Syria during a visit but was of Armenian descent. He was Christian (Armenian Orthodox) and family was mostly in Beirut in the Lebanon. He was back in Beirut by the age of 2 and it's likely that any 'registering' would have been done with the Armenian Church - in Lebanon or possibly in Syria if there was such a thing there.

When he arrived in the UK in the sixties, he had a Lebanese passport with the 'invented' birth date and year. He became a British Citizen in early seventies and the info just carried through.

There are contact details for various Armenian churches in Lebanon here: Lebanon Church Records • FamilySearch

Thank you so much