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Archiver > LONDON > 2005-12 > 1135343683


From: "Tony Mitchell" <>
Subject: Re: [Lon] Late Birth Registration
Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 13:15:06 -0000
References: <43AAFC93.6070802@shaw.ca> <03a901c6072f$8569d240$4301a8c0@mums> <004701c6072e$faf4b8f0$c68e8556@NJOvington> <011801c60740$09ceffa0$1e711a52@pc01> <008501c60752$1c6dabe0$0f01fc3e@qdwqq> <008201c60753$5280a380$56748956@oemcomputer>


Cyndi said:

I think I've just received a birth cert that's the opposite of this. There is an extremely long note in the margin which says comments in columns 4, 5, 6 and 7 should be omitted - basically it removes all details of the father. As "the father" was the informant instead of the word father it states it should now read "in charge of the child"!!! The birth took place in June1920, but the corrections in the margin didn't take place until January 1923. Intriguing...........

Cyndi,

This correction would have been made because the original details were not true. I would think that the mother and father were not married at the time of the birth, and when registering, the father gave incorrect information.

Do you have any evidence of the parents getting married to each other either before or after the birth?

If the parents were not married to each other at the time of the birth, the father could not attend as the informant without the mother also attending.On the correction, if the parents were not married, even if the man was the father he could not be shown as the father without confirmation from the mother - hence the qualification 'In charge of the child'. Did something happen to the mother? Did she die in childbirth, or sometime between the original registration and the later correction? Was she seriously ill, or perhaps committed to an asylum, so she could not attend either the original registration or the subsequent correction?

I'm not keen on the 'adoption' theory. Formal adoption didn't start in England until 1927. In any event, adopted parents are not acceptable as informants for births.

Regards

Tony

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