Looking for a birth in St Helena

[chris1969]

Hello everyone

I'm tracing a family tree and come across an ancestor who was (according to the UK census) born in St Helena in the mid 1820s. I'm presuming at the moment that this is the mid-Atlantic island to which Napoleon was exiled in 1815.

Does anyone have any ideas of what datasources are available for St Helena, or if there was a system of civil or church registration in the same way that there was for the UK?

Thanks a lot

Chris

[Wirral]

Could it have been St Helens, Lancashire?

[Peter Goodey]

Perhaps you'll find some tips here -

https://website.lineone.net/%7Esthele...ilyhistory.htm

[Peter Goodey]

and...

Church Records:-

India Office Records - St Helena 1767-1835 Series N/6

https://www.bl.uk/collections/oiocfam...ilyeccles.html

[Pam Downes]

Hi Chris,
Welcome to the forum.
Are you able to refer to not only more than one census for this person, but far more importantly, to the original census page(s)?
If you are relying on an index, then indexes can unreliable.
If you are relying on just one year, then people tell lies - or big fibs at the very least . I've had people age 7 years between census, be born in three different places depending on which census year you look at, and be Frederick in one census and Thomas in another.
So, do try to check that it's definitely St Helena and not as Wirral has suggested St Helens.
Pam

[susan-w]

Hi Chris

As St Helena came under the East India Company, it’s also worth checking.

Also, didn’t ships to and from India sometimes (or often?) stop at St Helena, so a passenger might have given birth there, even if they weren’t living on the island?

Cheers
Sue