Determining twins in BMD's

[v.wells]

I cannot remember where I read on this forum how to determine if 2 children born on same place/day/yr are in fact twins. It had something to do with the page and vol numbers matching. Can someone clarify that for me?

Thanks

[Peter Goodey]

There is only one way to determine this - by getting the certificates.

You may make a reasonable guess that two births are likely to turn out to be twins if the volume and page numbers are identical - this would suggest that the two births were registered at the same time. There would be even less certainty if the births were on adjacent pages (they might or might not be adjavent entries).

[v.wells]

Thank you Peter

I knew that my thinking was right!

[suedent]

You have to bear in mind that just because there are 2 children with the same reference number it doesn't mean that they are related.

When I purchased my gg-grandfather's birth certificate there was another child with the same surname (an unusual one in that area) and reference so I applied for that certificate too. It turned out to be a very distant relation rather than a missing ggg-uncle.

[v.wells]

Thank you Sue. I've ruled out twins anyway as I can't find the 2 people I'm looking for - and I know they exist!

[Ken Boyce]

Perhaps someone could elaborate on the following

I believe that Stillbirths were not registered until well after 1837 (1920’s?) in which case the only way of deducing that a surviving child was a twin is if the stillborn twin’s birth, death or burial was recorded in a parish register.

Note Stillbirths may have been defined differently over time. I believe that historically fetus deaths were not classed as stillbirths and I’m unaware of the historical requirement if any for the reporting of fetus deaths (historically at what period of gestation did it become a fetus death vs. a miscarriage?)

From Sept 1911 on the mother’s maiden name was included on the Birth Cert and in the GRO Index so that would eliminate births with the same surname as being twins unless they had the same mother

Twins can be born apart (and being a typical male I have no idea what max time interval may be involved – hrs - days!) so the dates of birth and of registration in the birth register may be different for each child so it is possible for the GRO Index entries for the two births to be across adjacent pages

We recently discovered that the maternal side of my grandmother’s blood line were prone to multiple births. We had observed several what we had thought were oddities or errors in the records before we connected that blood line to modern day twins of whom there are several born post 1920.We then realized that some records dating back to 1770s made more sense if twin births were considered and we will be rechecking those family lines
Regards

[suedent]

Twins can be born apart (and being a typical male I have no idea what max time interval may be involved – hrs - days!) so the dates of birth and of registration in the birth register may be different for each child so it is possible for the GRO Index entries for the two births to be across adjacent pages

My gg-aunt had twins, one born 18 January 1890 and the other on 22 January. When I first came across the entry in the PR I thought that there must have been a mistake. However, when I spoke to the grandaughter of the eldest twin she confirmed that they were indeed born on those dates. The early problems obviously had no ill-effect as both lived to the ripe old age of 87.

[joette]

I had school-friends who were twins but were about two months apart in age-both were in different years because of this difference.I thought it was a story to cover up an adoption because they were like chalk & cheese but no they were both born to the same Mother from the same pregnancy.
NB In Scotland twin births are noted as such- from what time scale I don't know but from the 1900's certainly.

[Julie Tyrell]

When searching for my grandad's birth cert I found 2 names - same district, volume and page number. Thinking he must have been a twin, I was surprised to find that in fact the mother had changed her mind about what to call him and he was re-named 6 weeks later.

So you never can tell, always check things out, don't assume anything

Julie