Wrong Birth Certificate ordered?

[Nerjagirl]

So in my haste to track my family tree, I made the mistake of ordering a wrong birth certificate, and just because the name of both the parents of my Great Grandmother were correct, I assumed, quite wrongly, that this was the right certificate, but when it came, it had the wrong d.o.b on. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Is there any way of checking the dob on a birth certificate BEFORE I order it. I had the date of death and birth (from the death certificate), but the one I wanted was born on 18th Dec 1886, and the one I got was born in March 1886.

My own fault, I should have realised from when the birth was registered

I believe, or my family believe, that she was born nr St Winifrids Well in Wales. I have narrowed it down to the births registered in March 1887 to 5 places, non of which are in Wales?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated?

TIA

[Sandyhall]

I'd say you have the right certificate you can not always go by whats on a Death Cert.

Could be that the person giving the details for the Death Cert. thought that was her birth date. do all the other details on the cert. correspond with what you know ie parents names are the same, place of birth is the right place. then you have the right one. any other children born to the same parents in the same place.

[Megan Roberts]

The GRO order form allows you if you want to specify an exact date of birth.

Births have to be registered within 3 months. So a child born in August could appear in either the July quarter index or the October index.

[Pam Downes]

The GRO order form allows you if you want to specify an exact date of birth.

Births have to be registered within 3 months. So a child born in August could appear in either the July quarter index or the October index.

Megan, I'm shocked. Go stand in the corner.
It's forty-two days to register a birth.
Though you are correct about a child being born in one quarter but possibly registered in another. I think the cut-off date is about the 20th of February, May, August and November for a birth to be registered in the next quarter. Could make a big difference if you're searching for someone registered in, say, March quarter 1900 and assume they were born in 1900. Gets confusing if the only record that looks like the person you want says they were born 16 December 1899 until you remember the '42 days'.

Pam

[Megan Roberts]

Megan, I'm shocked. Go stand in the corner.

Oops just one of those increasingly frequent senior moments.

[pwholt]

And again, it depends on what the people said. Gt grannie of the four children was born 21 June 1856 but the birth was not registered until 20 DEC 1856. That is all but 6 months from birth to registration. All the information is on the certificate so the Registrar knew the parents were very tardy, but he registered the birth anyway.So, consider carefully before you ignore something in the "wrong" quarter.pwholt

[fullscott]

So in my haste to track my family tree, I made the mistake of ordering a wrong birth certificate, and just because the name of both the parents of my Great Grandmother were correct, I assumed, quite wrongly, that this was the right certificate, but when it came, it had the wrong d.o.b on. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Is there any way of checking the dob on a birth certificate BEFORE I order it. I had the date of death and birth (from the death certificate), but the one I wanted was born on 18th Dec 1886, and the one I got was born in March 1886.

My own fault, I should have realised from when the birth was registered

I believe, or my family believe, that she was born nr St Winifrids Well in Wales. I have narrowed it down to the births registered in March 1887 to 5 places, non of which are in Wales?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated?

TIA

I agree with sandyhall - you've probably got the correct certificate.
Parents' names, father's occupation, place of birth - all more reliable than a date ...
There are many reasons why a person didn't know their date of birth - it wasn't important (no NHS, no State Pension, no "data protection").
Perhaps your Gt Gran married a younger man and didn't want him to know the age difference ... so she gave a later date and no-one ever knew differently.
One never asks a lady her age!

Jane
PS: You are buying your certificates direct from GRO, aren't you? It's a lot cheaper that way! (From one who thanks this forum for telling me this, back when I started searching!)

[Nerjagirl]

Thank you everybody for all your kind help. Still not sure if I have the right birth certificate or not. Need to find Gt Grandma’s Marriage certificate, as that might tell me what her parents were called, but I do know her parents didn’t approve of her marriage and she was only about 16 when she got married, and her husband was a few years older, as far as Mum remembers, but come up against a brick wall with her family.

This was the only Bridget Kelly I found on the 1991 Census who was 5 at the time (b 1886) but on death certificate says same birth date as Mum 18/12/1886, but when birth certificate came, it says she was born 18th Feb 1886?

Can’t find a marriage certificate for a Bridget Kelly to a Thomas Hogan at all, but her first son (my Grandad) was born in Blackburn Lancashire in April of 1910.

Is it time to join a subscription service, and if so, any recommendations at this stage in my search? Just don’t know what to do next. Been searching freesearch and free BMD’s

TIA

[Nerjagirl]

Yes I am getting my certificates from gro, thanks to you lovely people.
So checking free BMD’s again, I find a Bridget Kelly Marriage certificate in the Fylde area (where she had all her children) but it doesn’t give the spouse surname, and when I search for a Thomas Kelly for the same date range, it doesn’t come up with this marriage in the fylde for him, so presumably this Bridget Kelly didn’t marry a Hogan? I feel like there are so many coincidences and don’t know how to tie them all together. How can I find out who this Bridget Kelly married? Join a subscription as I said before, but which one do you guys recommend. Was thinking of buying Family Historian latest version, and they seem to be all tied to subscription services, as I didn’t want to post my family tree on a public platform. Really confused right now?

[christanel]

Thank you everybody for all your kind help. Still not sure if I have the right birth certificate or not. Need to find Gt Grandma’s Marriage certificate, as that might tell me what her parents were called, but I do know her parents didn’t approve of her marriage and she was only about 16 when she got married, and her husband was a few years older, as far as Mum remembers, but come up against a brick wall with her family.

This was the only Bridget Kelly I found on the 1991 Census who was 5 at the time (b 1886) but on death certificate says same birth date as Mum 18/12/1886, but when birth certificate came, it says she was born 18th Feb 1886?

Can’t find a marriage certificate for a Bridget Kelly to a Thomas Hogan at all, but her first son (my Grandad) was born in Blackburn Lancashire in April of 1910.

Is it time to join a subscription service, and if so, any recommendations at this stage in my search? Just don’t know what to do next. Been searching freesearch and free BMD’s

TIA

FreeBMD
Marriage
Bridget Kelly, on same page - Thomas HogEn
June 1/4 1908 Fylde registration district vol 8e page 1397
Christina