LUCAS in Islington

[robinadexter]

Good morning Seekers, I have an interesting conundrum to share with you.
Census returns have revealed 12 children of my great gps, Thomas Henry LUCAS and Louisa Frances Ann COOPER, although family legend gives them 18. The oldest, Thomas, is 'age 2' in 1861 census and 12 in 1871. Thereafter, a likely Thomas LUCAS aged 23, 33 and 41 appears in the '81, '91 and 1901 censuses. I cannot find a GRO reference but he must have been born 1858/9. Not 1860, because I have the birth cert for son Edward, born on 7 July 1860. I also have one for daughter Emily, born 8 Oct 1862. Neither of these appears to be a twin. Both lived into adulthood. So far, so good.
However, a recent research trip to Islington revealed a local record of a baptism of Henry Thomas, son of Thomas and Louisa LUCAS - at one of their known addresses, so not likely to be another couple with their names - bap: 1 June 1862 and 'born 11 May 1862'.
Now, Thomas jnr has the second name Henry in one census, so this could be him - but he was recorded in the 1861 census (age 2). And, whether the baptism is of Thomas or not, the birth year recorded in the parish is clearly wrong. Disregarding adoption (please! It's complicated enough!), Louisa could not have had a child on 11 May and on 8 Oct in the same year.
My questions are: has anyone else come across a clearly wrong birth (or other) date in parish (or other) records? Is it common or rare?
I am not over anxious about young Tom's actual d.o.b., it is the question of the reliability of records, which we all know are fallible, that interests me here.
Any experiences or comments?
Cheers
Robina

[Geoffers]

...daughter Emily, born 8 Oct 1862....a recent research trip to Islington revealed a local record of a baptism of Henry Thomas, son of Thomas and Louisa LUCAS - at one of their known addresses, so not likely to be another couple with their names - bap: 1 June 1862 and 'born 11 May 1862'. Now, Thomas jnr has the second name Henry in one census, so this could be him - but he was recorded in the 1861 census (age 2). And, whether the baptism is of Thomas or not, the birth year recorded in the parish is clearly wrong.
Glad to read that you're getting somewhere with this research problem.

Errors do occur in parish registers - the mistakes are many and varied, from getting the date wrong to the name of the parents, sex of the child and I've even found completely wrong surnames in registers. Occasionally I've found that the Bishop's or Archdeacon's Transcript help by providing the correct information.

continued....

[Geoffers]

Your cleric may well have been interrupted whilst writing up the register, gone back to it and having lost concentration, wrote down the wrong birth year.

Registers do vary greatly, I cannot say what they are like for areas where I have not done research; but for my area of interest (NE Norfolk) it is unusual to record the year of birth, unless the year is not the current one. e.g. if writing an entry in 1862 and including the date of birth from that year, it is more normal to just note the day and month - the year being taken for granted. Take care though, the registers for Islington may be different. Should you be able to get back there again, you might look to see how the Vicar/Curate has recorded dates of birth in other entries.

Geoffers

[robinadexter]

Hallo Geoffers, I was going to post to the Norfolk forum to let you know about my lateral crashing through the brick wall represented by Louisa and Thomas, but perhaps you wouldn't mind reading the relevant post on the Middlesex forum. I am glad I took your encouragement to heart and refused to give up on my B/W!
As for this thread re clerical errors (!!!!) I have a copy of 'my' half of the page and there were two clerics named but it looks, despite slight variations, to have been written up by the same hand, always using the same formula: date of baptism, a brief line under it (not quite an underlining) and then " Born" and a date. The entry above Henry Thomas has a date of birth of 1862, the 3 below were 1856, 1862 and 1858. Could be any explanation for it but I just know that Henry Thomas's d.o.b. is an impossible date for these parents.
As I have said before, what with the variations on names, errors in reporting and transcribing etc., etc., it really is amazing how far we all get with our research!
All the best, Robina