Genealogy Chat

I realised after going to a funeral (my ex husband's) that his first name was spelt wrong and also there was a middle name that I knew nothing of - Afterwards when we went back to the house, I asked his sister about it and she said, she was surprised at the middle name as well, and that he and she, had spent years believing his first name was spelt another way....I let it go for a few weeks, but it niggled at me, so i sent off for his birth certificate and low and behold, he didnt have a middle name ..so his death has been registered in the wrong name!! I asked his sister how could this happen, and she told me, that it was from his medical certificate - I have had a look at the FMBD site and there are 2 people of same name, born the same year, but one in the March qtr and the other in the June qtr ( the March qtr is the correct one, but the death has been registered in the June qtr person.......What should I do??.....I may not be able to respond to any messages tonight, but will be back on here tomorrow, so I wish to thankyou in advance for any replies this evening.

From what people have said, once a death certificate has been issued, it can't be changed. However, you can contact the GRO, or as it's a recent bereavement possibly the Register Office where the death was registered, with supporting evidence,and see if they will make a note on their Return.

This is a good example of the information only being as good as the informant's knowledge, who in this instance took incorrect information provided by a third party.

Although its worth a reminder that as long as it's not for illegal reasons, anyone can call themselves what they want to.

Hopefully the erroneous use of someone elses name isn't going to cause that person any problems.

As you and his own sister both think something is wrong, I would contact the Registrar where the death was registered.

My son gave wrong middle name details when he registered my aunt's death and I contacted the Registrar when I realised. As the birthdate, first name,surname and other details were correct and no problem was going to occur regarding a Will, nothing was done to correct the entry.

Your case sounds as if it might create a problem of mistaken identity, so I would let the Registrar decide on any action to be taken.

Gwyn

His sister registered his death, but she got the details from his flat via the medical card...which we now know was incorrect...I will give her the copy of the certificate I received and hopefully she will take it to the local registry office. Thankyou both x

Thankyou Gwen x

My Gt/Uncle birth registered and baptised John Augustine Butler
Married as plain John Butler
death registered by his wife as John Joseph Butler. And dob was wrong by just days.

I have found loads of people in my tree who have been born with one name and died with another and have added names in between. Not uncommon

And do not get me started on the different ways they have spelt their names. My gran was Nellie, Nelie, Nelly.

Didnt a hospital or doctor issue the usual paperwork to register the death with,?

Are you 100% certain that the birth cert you have is correct?

Do the details tally exactly with those on the cert of your marriage to this man?

My sister-in law's death was registered with an extra letter in her surname..........

My father's Death Certificate was incorrect in two respects and was subsequently amended. We have the amended version which shows the original incorrect details, and whilst it is true these have to remain, the corrected information is shown at the bottom of the certificate.

The wording for the correction is

In 209 (the Register Entry No) in Space 5 (in this case, Date and Place of Birth ) for X read Y. Corrected on dd/mm/yyyy on the authority of n

Reggie, there is no marriage certificate as they divorced. The court keeps or destroys it as the certificate is void.

The marriage certificate is not void as it is a record of the time of the marriage, not anything that happened later.
Linda. You or the person who registered the death need to write to the Register Office where the death was registered explaining what is incorrect and provide supporting evidence. They will then ask the Registrar General for permission to correct the entry. They cannot do this without the RGs permission as it is a name that is incorrect.
But...remember that there is no law in this country which requires anyone to call themselves by the name they were given at birth. He may well have chosen to be known by the 'new name' so you need to be sure of the facts first.

I know of an instance where an incorrect name made the will invalid.
Even with certificate evidence, the will would not be honoured and it had to have letters of administration, which took years to sort out.