Stillbirths help needed

[Guy Etchells]

I am at present compiling The Historic Stillbirth Register (covering the years 1551 to 2005). I would appreciate any help with, or leads to stillbirth records that anyone has.
Stillbirths are often recorded in Parish Registers.
Cheers
Guy

[Allanah]

Hi Guy
I have the "Still birth" certificate for my little Sister, how would you like me to get the deatils to you ?? eg. Just post the info on site or pm you the certificate ?

Allanah

[Guy Etchells]

Hello Allanah, if you could pm me please or email me at [email protected]
thanks
Guy

[Allanah]

Will do Guy, good luck with your project.

Allanah

[ellyjane70]

yes, good luck Guy-a huge project

Could you help with people who may be at a loss with the law - in my case in the UK-as to the births which result in a child not living, required registration and what doesn't? Such a sensitive subject but one which I'm sure many of us could benefit from for knowing the legalities.

[Peter Goodey]

births which result in a child not living, required registration and what doesn't?

All stillbirths must be registered. The legal definition of a stillbirth is the birth of a fetus that shows no evidence of life (heartbeat, respiration, or independent movement) at any time later than 24 weeks after conception.

See also http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Registeringlifeevents/Birthandadoptionrecords/Registeringorchangingabirthrecord/DG_175614

and http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Registeringlifeevents/Birthmarriageanddeathcertificates/DG_175676

[mags68]

Still birth records are only Available to the next of kin to the child still born , if the next of kin are Deceased , then you have to prove who you are(in relation too) , along with the death certs of the next of kin . if that helps.

[Guy Etchells]

The current law is as Peter mentioned since 1927 all stillbirths are required to be registered in the Civil Stillbirth Register.
http://
freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~framland/acts/1926Act.htm

However in the past the law was not quite as clear cut. Since the inception of Parish Registers in 1536 all burials had to be registered. Many vicars took the view that included the burials of stillborn infants.
The booklet Suggestions for Guidance to the Clergy in discussing still born infants stated-
"...and it would be well to have a record kept of all burials of alleged still-born infants".
Cheers
Guy

[Ken_R]

I think this subject was covered on Radio 4's Tracing Your? Roots some weeks/months ago. (Tried looking for the Prog. Can't find it.) Thanks Guy for the 1927 date. From what I remember, prior to that, it was up to the Hospital/Institution as to whether they gave Stillbirth Certificates.

Another thing that was mentioned on the programme was the anguish of the parents of a stillborn who, whilst others were happily attending the RO, often with their 'howling bra...', sorry, offspring, the unfortunate parents would have to stand in the same queue.

Not an ideal situation!

[Colin Rowledge]

The unfortunate parents would have to stand in the same queue.

Not an ideal situation!

So my mum - possibly with my dad, if he was granted 'compassionate leave' was there as well.

B-T-W - Guy, have you acquired /details/registers from 1941-1943 or are you working from 'scratch'?

Colin

[Guy Etchells]

I have a huge variety of parish registers of various dates some from the earliest in existence for the parish to the 1990s others to 1812 others from around 1900 to 2008.
Some are typed transcripts that I have OCRd and machine searched other are handwritten and have to be read page by page and the stillbirths transcribed.
Unfortunately it also means I have not been keeping up with the scanning of new books for Anguline but I hope to catch up a bit soon.
Cheers
Guy

[Colin Rowledge]

Thamks, Guy.

If i p/m you with what I know will that help?

[Colin Rowledge]

Thamks, Guy.

If i p/m you with what I know will that help?

The time-frame is 1941-43 and the location is Acton, W.3.

[Guy Etchells]

Yes Please
Cheers
Guy

[Chris Doran]

I have a huge variety of parish registers of various dates some from the earliest in existence for the parish to the 1990s others to 1812 others from around 1900 to 2008.

Can you somehow list which registers have already been/are being searched by you or others, so we don't duplicate efforts?

Not for the squeamish...

There are reports in early newspapers (and occasionally even today) of the bodies of newly-born infants found dumped in the street, gardens, parks, etc. The inquest was usually unable to conclude whether the child had ever drawn breath, let alone its name. But there is a date and place. Are these reports of any interest? I suppose someone's ancestor might have confessed in old age.

[Nicolina]

my Aunt had a stillborn child some time between 1942 and 1948 yet I can find no record of it. Any suggestion as to why. I know where the unmarked grave is - next to my youngest brother's, so it's not just "a story".

[Peter Goodey]

my Aunt had a stillborn child some time between 1942 and 1948 yet I can find no record of it. Any suggestion as to why.

Bearing in mind the GRO help pages which were provided earlier in this thread, what record were you hoping to find?

[Nicolina]

any evidence as to when this happened and whether it was indeed a stillbirth.

[Peter Goodey]

I meant what type of record. not what the record might show.

However what the GRO help pages say is that if it was a live birth, there should be a birth certificate. If it was a stillbirth, there won't (there will be a stillbirth registration but you can't access it).

So if there was no birth and death registration, that only leaves burial records. Have you investigated? There is a legal requirement to maintain a burial register but I don't know whether it's compulsory to enter stillbirths.

[Guy Etchells]

Sorry for the delay in replying.

Chris,
I cannot at present list the registers searched and being searched as I did not produce a digital copy but rather ticked off registers in a book I have.
I will be making a list at some future date but at present cannot spare the time for that task. (:

Newspaper reports of still births are of interest but I only list those which are confirmed stillborn.

Nicolina,
Have you tried the burial register for the graveyard or cemetery the unmarked grave is in. There should be a record of the burial.
One of the reasons I am trying to get the government to open the civil stillbirth register is because many stillbirths were not recorded.
I am also compyling a list of of still births that do not appear (or rather the GRO claim do not appear) on the stillbirth register.
This in itself causes distress to the parents of those stillborn infants.

Cheers
Guy

[Mutley]

Good Luck Guy,

I should think I am not alone in having a birth registration and a death registration in the same quarter for a child.
In my case the child is one of ten and is not my direct line so I have not ordered the certificates.
His death may have been at any time during the following couple of months after birth but I did wonder why I could not find a baptism or burial and then moved on to follow other lines.

Is it likely that this child and others, where both registrations are in the same quarter, may have been stillborn but were not entered in the parish records and how would we know? (This one was Southwark in 1875)

[Thomasin]

The vicar of St Mary Rotherhithe was assiduous in recording stillbirths around 1842. Every pair of pages seems to have two or three.

(Ancestry, Deaths and Burials 1813-1980)

Here's another: 5th June 1818 Frances Barkley M.E.O.T. stillborn (St Dunstan, Stepney).

[Guy Etchells]

Hello Mutley, if a birth or a death is registered then the infant was a live birth, even if he/she only lived for a few moments after birth.
The official designation in England & Wales is from the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1926 section 12 -

""still-born" and "still-birth" shall apply to any child which has issued forth from its mother after the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy and which did not at any time after being completely expelled from its mother, breathe or show any other signs of life."

This was later amended to "...after the twenty-fourth week..."

Thanks Thomasin.
Cheers
Guy

[Mutley]

Thank you very much Guy. That has clarified it for me.
I was confused by the comment "the unfortunate parents would have to stand in the same queue".

The child may have lived for a couple of moments or a couple of months, either way they were alive at birth and registered in the normal Birth Registrations and Death Registrations. If the poor mite was unable to draw a breath they would not be found in FreeBMDs but in a separate register.