Genealogy Chat

Hi

Can you help answer a question? I ordered a birth certiicate which came today, however this is a male with a different surname!! I looked this person up and the both have the same birth re number from 1939. Is this possible? I did think they could be twins but it doesnt add up!!

Please help with any suggestions. Thank you in advance.

Did you not specify the name when you ordered?
Yes, several names the same reference.
e.g. (with bits removed)
Births Dec 1936
Clive E Ryedale 9d 574
Rita Ryedale 9d 574
Eileen M A Ryedale 9d 574
Leslie A Ryedale 9d 574
Alan S Ryedale 9d 574
Thanks

Give us the details - so we can look

We can't speculate without seeing the records

Were the child's parents married?

All pages of GRO records hold info about more than one person

What info did you put on your order form?

Hi & thank you for replying.

She is registered twice in 1932 as Prudence B D Mason and then again as Hedges - she didnt marry until 1933.

She is the registered again in 1939 as Prudence B D Hedges ref 2C 170, I ordered the correct birth certificate with her name attached and I received Kenneth J Munden.

I also ordered her birth certificate from 1932 as Mason which I also received today.

Thanks - am confused!

You shouldn't have gotten Kenneth J Munden. The GRO stiffed up (or you did) - I would ask for a refund.

The original birth rego was:
Births Sep 1932 (>99%)
Mason Prudence B D Mason Stockbridge 2c 207
[There is no other Prudence listed on the page, so the birth was illegitimate and not acknowledged by the father at that time]

Next:
Marriages Dec 1933 (>99%)
Hedges Kenneth A Mason Romsey 2c 285
Mason Gwendoline M Hedges Romsey 2c 285

Clicking on " Stockbridge" in the first hit, then the more info "here" link gets:
STOCKBRIDGE REGISTRATION DISTRICT
Abolished : 1.10.1932 (incorporated into Romsey & Stockbridge registration district).
so Stockbridge RD has gotten renamed as Romsey RD by now.

Prudence's birth has now been legitimated, and 6 y later thery got round to doing the paper work:

Births Jun 1939 (>99%)
Hedges Prudence B D Mason Romsey 2c 170
with a 1932q3 forward reference to this b.cert:

Births Sep 1932 (>99%)
Hedges Prudence B D Mason Romsey 2b See J/39 [original entry crossed out - presumably as it has the wrong vol #]
Hedges Prudence B D Mason Romsey 2c See J/39

[There is no forward ref on the 1932q3 Mason entry]

????????????
She is registered twice in 1932 as Prudence B D Mason and then again as Hedges - she didnt marry until 1933.

Presumably you mean the parents..........

Prudence was illegitimate, obviously, then re-registered after the parents married, thus legitimising the child........

Just contact the GRO....tell them they have made a mistake, and that you want the correct birth cert FOC


Though why you need both certs for the girl, I'm not entirely sure


Births Jun 1939 (>99%)
Frederick T Balson Romsey 2c 170
Hazel Skelton Romsey 2c 170
Hedges Prudence B D Mason Romsey 2c 170
Alan L Collins Romsey 2c 170
Munden Kenneth J Romsey 2c 170

Info from the Page........with deletions for privacy

Am I wrong in saying that whichever of the 3 refs is ordered the cert will be the same? A birth can only be registered once although it can be indexed twice, or as in this case, three times.

Thank you so much or your help. All very confusing as I have just started.

I thought maybe she had a different father and they decided to have the birth re-registered once they had married and had other children.

Thank you very much for all your time.

Potty - in theory, you're correct. There was just one birth, so there should be just one b.cert - the 1939 one. However, it wasn't referenced back to the original rego, it seems, so that might be different (lacking the father's name - recall I checked the page referenced and there was no Pru with another surname indexed). It's clear the 1932 Hedges index entry doesn't refer to any 1932 certificate, but refers to the 1939 cert.

Without looking if a child is registered in both surnames, Mum and Dads then its a sign that the child was born out of wedlock but Dad accepted the child as his child and was present at the registry office when the birth was registered

There will only be one birth cert for this but there will be two entries on the index

It then looks like Mum and dad married and then went on to re register the birth to legitimising the child

In theory the GRO should only release the later (1939) certificate regardless which one you order but as has been said this is not always the case usualy because amendments get lost for what ever reason "human error" between the registry office and the GRO

Roy