Genealogy Chat

I have this entry in my tree, a child who was born and died in the same quarter of 1916. I have never seen a registration with this 'forename' before and assume it was a child who survived maybe a day or two but was not stillborn. I take it there is no requirement to register a stillbirth, is that correct?
Maybe this one was premature and the parents had not got around to naming it (their previous child, who was named Mary E Woodings was born and died in the June quarter of 1915).
Has anyone else a child described as just 'Female' or 'Male' in their family tree?

Geoff

yes have seen it before

There were no records of stillborns till about 1927 so the child would have been a live birth but died shortly after and the parents didnt name it.

They would need a death cert for the burial so may have reg the birth and death at the same time .

for info

Stillbirth registration was introduced on 1 July 1927 to help protect infant life, provide a valuable source of statistical information and to give parents the opportunity to have their child officially acknowledged.

Thank you Shirley, that's very interesting and useful information. Was that the same time that adoption was officially recognised for the first time?

Geoff

From the NA - Formal adoption, as we now know it, did not exist in England and Wales until 1927.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/adoption.htm

The Adopted Children's Register was established with effect from 1 January 1927. It was the first centralised record of adoptions authorised by courts in England and Wales.
http://www.ffhs.org.uk/tips/adoption.php

Geoff .......

you also find "male" or "female" used for a child when the parents had not chosen a name for the baby.

They were supposed to go back to the Registrar and have an alteration made to the birth registration when they decided on a name, but most never did.


so you then have to find a baptism, if possible ............ or buy the birth certificate in order to find out if the parents are the ones you think they should be.


You also find babies being registered with only one name but baptised with a second name OR with a different first name .............. and no change made to the birth registration!



I sometimes believe the ancestors did all this deliberately just to make it harder for us to find them :-D

BTW ............. I have seen cases where there is a death certificate but no birth certificate for a child that only survived a matter of hours.


This seemed to happen because the parents had 6 weeks in which to register a birth, but deaths had to registered immediately.

I guess that they forgot to register the birth in the distress of the baby dying.