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  1. #1

    Default Duplicate birth registration on GRO

    After many years I have again come across something not found before.
    A duplicate birth registration on the gro in 1928. One under the mother's maiden name and the other under the presumably father's name. Presupposing an unmarried mother, was this common? I have never seen it before.
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  2. #2
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    It will just be one registration. The GRO index is not a list of registrations. If both parents were named but not married to each other, the registration will be indexed under both the mother's and the father's surname. This was normal procedure.

  3. #3
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    Have you checked the registration on FreeBMD? If the enties have the same volume and page number, the reason will be as Peter explained.

    I've seen marriage entries where a name has been entered twice for the same marriage. Once as the vicar wrote it, and once as the bride or groom signed their name. Even if it was a tiny difference such as Ann and Anne.

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  4. #4

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    Thank you both. As I said I have not come across this before. I was not even aware that the marriage or otherwise of the parents came up during a birth registration. It certainly did not as far as my own children were conerned. I had always assumed that the indexing under a surname was that of the father unless he was not named. We live and learn.
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    It's called 'reading the small print'.

    If the parents are married the details on the certificate will usually read
    Father's name: John Smith
    Mother's name: Jane Smith formerly Green.

    If they're not married it should say something like
    Father's name: John Smith
    Mother's name: Jane Green.

    My great-grandfather's birth certificate in 1843 even has spinster written after his mother's name.

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  6. #6
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    I was not even aware that the marriage or otherwise of the parents came up during a birth registration.
    If the parents aren't claiming to be married, they will have different surnames (usually). Hence the double indexing. If they claim to be married (whether or not they really are), the mother's name will be shown as the same as the father's with the addition of the word "formerly" followed by her maiden name.

  7. #7

    Default Duplicate birth registration on GRO

    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Goodey View Post
    If the parents aren't claiming to be married, they will have different surnames (usually). Hence the double indexing. If they claim to be married (whether or not they really are), the mother's name will be shown as the same as the father's with the addition of the word "formerly" followed by her maiden name.
    As I have said I am not aware that the marital status of the mother and father came up at the time of the registration. It may well have done but I have never seen any reference to it, nor personally experienced it. It is the double indexing I have never experienced before. I did a random check of a dozen births on the same quarter on the GRO page and found no other duplicate indexing. I suppose the curiosity can only be resolved by the birth certificate itself but as I am not the NOK of the child I will not be allowed to buy one. Just one of those things I suppose.
    Anyway thanks for all the suggestions. Unfortunately by somewhat inadequate heading of referring to duplicate registration rather than duplicate indexing did not help.

    Cheers Ed
    www.jeaned.net
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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ed McKie View Post
    As I have said I am not aware that the marital status of the mother and father came up at the time of the registration. It may well have done but I have never seen any reference to it, nor personally experienced it.
    My understanding is that if the parents aren't married, the only way for the father to be named in the registration is for him to go to notify the birth, along with the mother. Seeing both parents rather than just one, a registrar would be quite likely to ask if they were in fact married.

    I suppose the curiosity can only be resolved by the birth certificate itself but as I am not the NOK of the child I will not be allowed to buy one.
    In England and Wales anyone can buy a copy of anyone else's birth certificate. If you don't want to go down that road, it might be interesting to check the indexes at ukbmd.org.uk. This is an entry point for local BMD indexes, which are compiled separately from the GRO ones, though not all counties are covered.

  9. #9
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    Birth registrations (in England/Wales) don't record any surname for the child before 1969 - so they are indexed by one or both surname(s) of the parent(s) dependent on their marital status.

    The ONLY way of being 100% certain that a couple are married or not is to look at the informant column, where there will be two signatures for an unmarried couple (known as registration by joint informants).

  10. #10

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    Well I must confess that I was relying on memory when I thought that there was a restriction on who could buy a birth certificate of someone who was still alive, obviously not a good idea at my age. I recall a few years ago that there was a substantial problem with criminal gangs obtaining passports with the use of birth certificate and that a restriction was imposed to curb this. Perhaps it was just a proposal and nothing happened.
    www.jeaned.net
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