delayed birth registration

[christanel]

UK, Railway Employment Records, 1833-1956
Harry Ebenezer Pearce
Age 17 date of birth 4 June 1879
Junior porter
Date of entry in to service 21 April 1897
wage 26 November 1897
Date of leaving 30 June 1898.
So a short employment record
I am trying to decipher some words written in the same column as the leaving date.

[christanel]

The date 30 June 1898 may have been when he was transferred to Willesden.
Christina

[wimsey]

so are we saying that he was probably born 4 June 1880 because he didn't really know which year he was born ?

[christanel]

so are we saying that he was probably born 4 June 1880 because he didn't really know which year he was born ?

From the evidence in the 1881 census I would say the answer to your question is yes.

The birth reg Sept 1880 does tally with a child aged 10 months in 1881 census which was taken 4th Apr. As for the other records being a year or so out: as Christina says people weren't very precise back then with their age, most didn't celebrate birthdays and were not particularly concerned with exactness.

[wimsey]

thanks. It rather throws into question the accuracy of any information on any document. My whole family tree could be completely fictitious !

[christanel]

thanks. It rather throws into question the accuracy of any information on any document. My whole family tree could be completely fictitious !

Not if you have backed up your findings with death, marriage and birth certificates. Do you have Harry Ebenezer's marriage certificate which would give his father's name and occupation?
How did you get back to Harry Ebenezer being you ancestor?
Christina

[wimsey]

yes I do have the marriage certificate - it fits in with what I thought I knew about his father. But I am beginning to doubt everything now. It seems to me certificates are just as likely to be inaccurate as anything else - I have at least one marriage certificate which has false information on it.

[wimsey]

How did you get back to Harry Ebenezer being you ancestor?
Christina

my starting point would have been that 1881 census where he is amongst the family which I had thought to be ancestors too. Plus family anecdote about an uncle Harry who had briefly emigrated to Canada. Sly Corner, Lee Common, Bucks, on the 1881 census, is a location well known to me. My mother was from Lee Common - I'm not really doubting that this is the correct family, but if no-one was sure of their own date of birth, how much else were they unsure of when filling out forms or conveying information to census collectors or registrars or clergymen ?

I'm just making a general point about the accuracy of information on documents.