Discrepancies on birth certificates re: DOB

[glasjam]

Right, new to this. My Great Grandfather was born in 1866 in the UK - allegedly. I am looking at a certified copy of his birth certificate that was issued to him in Oct 1918. However, when I look up the year and quarter written on the certificate in Birth certificates (I have been using Census 1901 and Genesreunted) he is not there. His birth is not registered in any of the quarters for that year or the year before. It's a genuine birth certificate I think clearly showing the district - I am at a loss as to why it's not there in the register.

Anyone got any ideas?

I would try using ancestry.co.uk. If you have not used it before you can use it for 14 day free trial - then you just cancel your subscription or choose what sort of subscription you want.

I found some websites do not have complete BMD records as I had been unable to find some but found the info at ancestry.co.uk.

IF you so not want the membership and want me to try and help you find it - contact me on [email protected].

With ancestry.co.uk - you can click on order this certificate and it takes you to the registry office and away you go.

Do you have a copy of the certificate??

you may need to do it for the quarter he was registered not the date of birth. My dad was born in Aug but not registered until Dec?!?!

check for typos. Surnames esp. or let us do it.... (always up for a nose). My family surnmae has been terribly hard to trace.

Incidentally, my sister is a registrar, and even she couldn't find my g/faters death cert. i found it in 5 minutes.
Tell us his surname, year of birth and place, and we'll have a race.

Thanks for your messages. I'll have a try of ancestry.co.uk - the 14 day trial sounds good. I've been spending quite a lot of £5s and £7s on certificates! The tip about the quarter of registration is a good one. He was registered in November for a September birthday - so a different quarter - I did look at the next quarter and can see someone with the same name but the district says Aston whereas my copy clearly states registration district of Walsall, Sub-district, Walsall and County, Walsall and Stafford. I can't understand how Aston would be the right one even though geographically they are close-ish?

He obviously had this certificate copy issued in Oct 1918 when he should have been 52 - why he needed it then I don't know. Were they still trawling for conscripts for the 2nd World War then (even though it ended in Nov?)Maybe he had to prove he was too old? - completely trawling for reasons now!

The reason I checked to see if this was on the register was just to test the system really - to see how detailed, accurate and comprehensive it was. I don't need to order up the certificate because I have it here in front of me. It does make me wonder though.

Thanks for the offers of help too. I shall no doubt be coming back here. I was glad to see the replies as I wondered if it was going to be much of a viewed topic. Sounds like there's some knowledgable people checking in!

I'll keep you updated.

1918 was world war 1. WW2 was 1939 !!
IME registration AREAS are usually correct.

try looking for him on freeBMD

just the other day.

Oh had anothr idea. sometimes FreeBMD is incomplete. As you have his birth cert, you could, as Einsvold suggested do a temp log into Ancestry - the use the FULL BMD index, with the details you have. Much better.

Sometimes people are missed off the Free BMD for no reason other than transcription error.

Def try looking at Ancestry. There you can see a transcript as well as a copy of the original entry.

Ancestry do make mistakes sometimes (usually spelling which I can understand)

I meant WW1 of course!!
I am a little confused though. As far as I know I am not using a FreeBMD because I have to pay a credit to view it (via Census 1901 or Genesreunited) - it's only 10p but definitely not free. I'll see how I get on with Ancestry as it seems to be regularly recommended

freeBMD - totally invaluable and totally free

There are pages missing even if you pay this doesn't mean they have scanned all the pages and uploaded them - norty! But true

that is very true for ancestry - quite a few bits of the census are missing.

And the indexing can be dodgy because a lot of it was outsourced to India etc. Quite a few Ditto families I think !

So - wherever you are searching - be creative with spelling.

There is a whole area in Somerset/Avon that is missing from one census compiled by ancestry - I forgot that.

If you can always check sources with the real thing. i.e check the GRO in a large library (even the library copy may be in a muddle, people dont always put things back where they should!!) Or check the parish registers for a baptism or burial if you can.

if you cant find a birth then look for a baptism. Same with a death look for a burial or use the probate indexes.

There are two indexes - the GRO indexes and the local superintendent registar indexes, the latter being compiled from the former so errors can creep in.

Can you get to Walsall register office and look it up in the local index? It might well be there. The ones on the web are GRO indexes. Some partital transcriptions of the local indexes for the west midlands are here www.bmsgh.org/wmbmd/births.html but Walsall is not covered for your date.

You can't go and look at local register indexes - the local register office are in some parts compiling indexes and putting them online but you can't go to a register office and look through their records. These are working offices producing death, marriage and birth certificates - suppling copies of certificates is in someways a side line.

You will effectivley have to wait until the indexes have been transcribed by volunteers, then uploaded online.

There is nothing to stop you requesting the actual certificate though and paying for his service. Usually if you contact a local register office and give the details for birth or death they will try to produce it - usually returning your check for £7 if they can't find the one you are requesting.

She's got the certificate - the point that she has riased is, despite having the cert, she can't find the reference in BMD indeces.

I am guessing she has the short certificate (did they start at the same time ?) and wants the full version - so needs the index number.

FreeBMD claims 100% coverage for 1866 - so either the index missed out your grandad, or the name was misentered.

If he has an unusual first name (or even worth trying with a common name) then try searching for that in the right area and time and see if that throws anything up.

The local office may not have passed on the information about his birth to the "head office" the GRO (otherwise known by buiklding name of St catherines index) Therefore to apply for the certificate directly to the local office as if this is the case there will not be a reference on the GRO indexes.

There are several (probably an undersatement) marriages in the Bristol area that took place, then eventually were handed in by the parish church to the local register office ( this should be done every three month) 18 months late.

The register office never sent the information to head office the GRO so although you will be able to get the marriage certificate at a local level - either through the parish registers or the local register office it will not be referenced on the GRO as they never received the information to reference and place on their indexes - which are now online at ancestry and the like.

Hope this makes some sense for you and why I am suggesting that to apply to the local register office is perhaps the way to go in this case.

the other thing to remember is that some areas are now under different counties. Where he was born compared to where he was registered could also be different.

the other thing you have with ancestry is you can check a number of censuses and so can get a great deal more information.

As someone else said - try changing the spelling in some way - sometimes when looking at the original cold ( as a transcriber would do) it can look like something else but when you know who it is - it is clear iyswim.

You still pay for the certificate when you order it - 7 pounds for a certificate.

I found freeBMD terribly incomplete.

I know here in Aus you can check with the actual registry office although they are not up to date - unless you know the exact date and can order from there BUT you can check online up to the early to mid 1900's depending on which state. Best part - the QLD one tells you the parents' names as well.

Wow another late nite for me! Couldn't go to bed without saying thanks for the FreeBMD tip. I can't believe how good it is. I found the missing entry straight away - seems the one that was in the GRO under Aston is indeed the same one - how quite they managed to come up with Aston I will never know. Just to clarify the only reason I searched for it was to check the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the Registers online. I have the complete certificate (albeit a 1918 copy) in my sweaty paws so didn't need to order one up.

I only wish I had been aware of this site earlier. I have wasted so much time (and money) going through years and quarters on Genesreunited/Census 1901 when I could have just typed in the name and district/county on FreeBMD. Feel like a right novice - which I guess I am! Feel like I have also learnt a HUGE amount by posting this one question - thanks to everyone who's chipped in with advice!

freeBMD has been going for a few years now and is pretty much complete for the 1837-1900 period I think - so it is always a good place to start.

Sometimes you can't find it and have to trawl through the original indexes - either on microfiche or on ancestry. I don't think you can now look through the old index books - I did is a number of times back when they were still in St Catherines House - they were huge and heavy and it took ages and you got filthy. And it was often frantic - full of professionals digging out certificates for their clients.

The thing with genealogy is ask - there are so many details to how to search you can't figure them all out yourself. And keep researching online periodically - more is becoming available all the time.

Can I put a plug in for freereg - it is a sister project to freebmd and freecen - but is quite a few years behind - but some counties have quite a few records now - Norfolk, Somerset, Lincolnshire - so well worth checking. Also - if you have time it is worth volunteering because you can often get the images to work on on your pc - which is wonderful if your family stayed in the same parish for a long time.

You do also know that you can search baptism and marriages on the microfilms at the church of the latter day saints - family history centers. These centers are listed on www.familysearch.org

Go to advanced search and then input uk and the list comes up - there are lots around the country and they will order in the relevant micorfilm of a parish you want to search. The cost is about £2-3 for ordering a microfilm and they keep it at the center for I think 4 weeks.

if your family did stay in one parish it is really worth while as you can gleen a lot of information with out keep buying civil registration certificates at £7 .

plus of course marriage certificates in the parish registers are the original certificates that where then copied and sent to the local registra. You can usually photocopy the certificate for around 50p - £1 a bit of a saving.

Dont foget ask about other sources, other than census parish registers and certificates - there are lots of juicey records out there with lots of gossip just waiting to be opened