Genealogy Chat

That would explain it then. My gg gran was born Mary Ann Walder in Sussex, her mum Mary Ann Walder Snr moved to London, married her child's supposed father Thomas Roberts in July 1864 then he bought her up as his own, and had subsequent children. They gave her another middle name Katherine. She was baptised Mary Ann Katherine Roberts but the fathers name wasnt re entered onto her birth certificate. Going by that, it would seem as if Thomas wasnt the real father, but it all depends whether Mary Ann Walder was already living in London but had gone back to Sussex to her parents house for the birth. She was still at home in Sussex on the 1861 census. Thomas Roberts wasnt in the area. I cannot find him on 1861. My gg gran lived until 1943, when she died aged 79. So she would probably of had a pension. Ben

The short birth certificate didn't even have to have the child's name on it! My mother, born in 1931 in the middle of a large, poor family, had one that just said 'female', and the date and place of her birth. She had to get a real one when she applied for a passport just a few years ago. Funny thing is, I looked her up, and she is in the 1931 GRO index with both her forenames. I think the registrar was just being nasty. She has spent most of her life thinking that her parents didn't even care enough to name her.

I found out about ten years ago when I was fifty. My parents married when I was eight years old but my bcert shows mum and dad with the same last name. They even got married on a school day and didn't invite me. Incidently, in my fathers family marriage was something one did after having all ones children... Also... My own father and his sisters had two birth registrations each... one with their father's name on it and one with their mother's husband's name on it. Try working your way round that lot! My wife says that as a B'd son of a B'd son of a B'd son I should be a wizzard or something! Roger GC

My late father-in-law never had a Birth Certificate. He was one of 15 children and I think they just didnt bother to register his birth. When he turned 65, he applied for a State Pension, having failed and tried, to find his birth registration. He had to produce 'evidence' of how old he was, including his Apprenticeship papers and details of his War service. After a lot of faffing about, he was then required to swear an affidavit to say he truly believed himself to be 65. He then got his State Pension. Olde Crone