School Admission Codes

[Mitch in Notts]

'Evidence of Birth' column.
If C.B. is Certificate of Birth (I presume), suggestions as to what D.P. is?

Puzzled......

Thanks

Mitch

[smj7290]

CB is definitely Birth Certificate for the Evidence of Birth column, just to clarify.

I'm a bit puzzled - Google shows D.P as a diploma of some sort. It might somebody's title or initials of somebody.

[Mitch in Notts]

Thanks. I have had a thought though.
There are 22 DP and 13 CB on the page - two entries having both. Wonder if it was 'Declaration by Parent' on basis of no actual paperwork(ie no actual Birth Certificate).

Mitch

[smj7290]

I work at the London Metropolitan Archives, and the registers you refer to is held in our collection. I remember publishing them to websites - I helped in organization with them.

This is where my degree in History becomes useful! Perhaps it is Discharge by Principal, but the term 'principal' was hardly in use then. I think your theory is unlikely: birth certificates on occasion were provided and 'C.B' was marked. D.P could have two meanings - Discharge by Principal or Declaration by Parent (only if no documentation was provided). Of course I can well be incorrect and another knowledgable B-G member could have the answer that will be your brickwall resolution!

[Lesley Robertson]

If you have access to these registers, maybe it would be worth taking a look at the introductory pages? They often define their abbreviations at the front of the book (obviously assuming that anyone looking at the entries would have the whole book to consult).

[smj7290]

If you have access to these registers, maybe it would be worth taking a look at the introductory pages
I'm still at work, so I can check for you. If you could provide me the Ancestry reference and the image, I will see if that register is in its' place on the shelf and/or ordered to view. If it has, I'm afraid we will have to wait until it's available.

[Lesley Robertson]

I think that's for Mitch to look for, although as you said that you'd help with the registers, I assumed that you'd know where they are. I would have thought that they'd all use the same abbreviations, so any volume would do...
Never mind.

[smj7290]

Lesley, the staff have different codes we use to locate different registers. I will have a look at just any one that's available in our collection then. Have written a note on my desk at work.

[Pam Downes]

I work at the London Metropolitan Archives, and the registers you refer to is held in our collection. I remember publishing them to websites - I helped in organization with them.
Unless Mitch has been PM-ing you with details not given in the thread, then there's no evidence to say that the register he refers to is held at LMA.

Mitch, as always a little more information goes a long way. :smile5:
Town, school, year(s), age of pupil are sort-of essential, even if you don;t want to reveal the persons' name. Is the image on the web where we can all have a look at it?

I've been looking at some of the images for various London schools on Ancestry.
Most of them have headings such as date of admission, full name, name of parent of guardian (one school even listed the father's occupation), address, date of birth, last school attended, date of leaving, etc.

Between address and date of birth is a column headed 'Is exemption from religious teaching claimed'.
That column is usually blank but against a lot of the entries for Gravel Lane school in the City of London (Admission and discharge for infants) is written B.C. On one page are a couple of entries labelled V.C. with another entry saying Germany.

I've checked a couple of the entries labelled B.C. and found birth registrations in the relevant year and quarter, so my guess is that B.C. does mean birth certificate.

I was hoping that Ancestry would have filmed the opening page in the registers, but all the ones I checked begin with the first page of pupils; none with any 'here's how to complete the register and abbreviations to use'. :smile5:

Pam

[lewisbeels]

I have looked at many school admission registers and in some, not all, next to the Date of Birth there is a column headed "How Date of Birth has been certified (Birth Certificate, Parent's Declaration, etc.) This certification column tends to appear mostly in infant school registers. Certainly, "Dismissal by Principal" is not going to appear in a column for Evidence of Birth.
Gill

[Pam Downes]

I have looked at many school admission registers and in some, not all, next to the Date of Birth there is a column headed "How Date of Birth has been certified (Birth Certificate, Parent's Declaration, etc.) This certification column tends to appear mostly in infant school registers. Certainly, "Dismissal by Principal" is not going to appear in a column for Evidence of Birth.
Gill
Gill, are the words 'Parent's declaration' actually written in the heading in the registers you've seen?

Pam

[lewisbeels]

Yes Pam. The wording is exactly as I have written it except I forgot the closing speech marks after the last bracket. This column does not seem to appear in the junior school registers that I have looked at.
Gill

[Pam Downes]

Thank you, Gill.

I would say that confirms that Mitch's original thought of 'Declaration by parent' is correct. :smile5:

Can you remember if the junior school registers you've seen had the 'Is exemption from religious teaching claimed' column next to the date of birth? If so, it would seem that most of the London infant schools just used a junior school register instead of the 'official' infant one.

Pam

[lewisbeels]

The exemption from religious education column is not in all admission registers. I have seen it as an added column drawn in by school staff. It has something to do with the various changes to the Education Acts and I can't remember the dates. It was to do with the establishment of non denominational schools and the clergy wanting to make sure that religion was still being taught. So the religious exemption column is probably date related. Will have to check up on my notes and see if I can find the exact date.
Gill

[Mitch in Notts]

Apologies, but for some unknown reason I've not received notification of updates to this thread.
The documents I've been looking at were amongst the national schools collections released by findmypast - imparticular those held by archives in what was the old county of Staffordshire.
I do after looking at various sources believe the 'Declaration by parent' for 'D.P.' is the correct one.

Thanks all for your input.

Mitch

And I'm on instant notification by email so very strange.....