Confused

[Dave6335]

I just know that this is going to sound so silly to some but for the life of me I cannot remember (if I ever did know) why there are Certified copies of an entry of Birth and a Certificate of Birth? I know that a certificate does not have as much detail as a certified copy but why are both types available at the time of registering?

David

[louisa maud]

If it doesn't have much detail is it the shotened version, I think they are about half price, I don't even know if you can get them now

Louisa Maud

[notanotherminer]

There is no difference Dave.

The certificate of birth is issued at the time of registration whereas a certified copy is a a copy obtained at a later date.

They both contain exactly the same information. You can, as Louisa pointed out, obtain a short form certificate but these are useless for Family History purposes. They would be issued as a cheaper alternative where a person was required to produce evidence of birth. The short form is also the free certificate issued at time of registration. There is a charge made for the full version

Please don't worry that a question might sound silly. We are all still learning and if we don't know then we need to ask

Regards
Graham

[Peter Goodey]

All BMD certficates are certified copies.

[notanotherminer]

Thinking about it now Peter you're absolutely right. It is simply a copy of an entry in the possession of the Superintendent Registrar.

[Dave6335]

Thank you Louisa & Graham.

I have short copies for 3 of my wife's relatives but the important bits are missing of course, ie birth address and parents. I felt silly because I have a short copy for one of my own daughters as well as the certified version but can't remember :blush2: why I must have thought it necessary thirty odd years ago to have both!

Thank you again.

David

[Lizzy9]

I felt silly because I have a short copy for one of my own daughters as well as the certified version but can't remember :blush2: why I must have thought it necessary thirty odd years ago to have both!
David

Probably, for the same reason my parents had both short and certified birth certificates for their three children - the short was used when needed for ID etc, and if it was lost in the post or any other way, they still had the certified copy.

[Peter Goodey]

Both short and long certificates are certified copies, extracts in the case of a short birth certificate. It's a bit of an oddity that short form certificates actually bear the words "Certificate of Birth". It's all in the interests of confusing the unwary :biggrin:

[Hollytree]

Like others I have two copies of my birth cert, but my mother had only the shortened version, and she hated it, her mother and father, short of money, could only afford the cheaper one. But when she married my father, they bought the 'full' version...............she always said that it was the children who had no 'father' entered on it that had the short cert. So she viewed it as a stigma.............

Anne