Birth Certificates in England And Wales

Birth certificates are a vital source of info for genealogists. They can give vital information on our ancestors and their siblings birth, and their family names. This is a guide to birth certificates and what info is contained, with details on every column in the birth certificate. Registration of births began on the 1st July 1837.
==Birth certificates in general==
==Number==
==When And Where Born==
==Name, if any==
==Sex==
==Name and Surname Of Father==
==Name, surname and maiden surname of mother==
==Occupation of father==
==Signature, residence and description of informant==
==When registered==
==Signature Of Registrar==
==Name Entered After Registration==
==Illegitimacy==
==Failure to find a birth in the indexes==
In year searches you may not be able to find a birth certificate. This may be harder if it is a common surname, especially if there was 10 John Smith's born in Birmingham in 1851 for example. There are several reasons why a birth may not be found in the indexes in the district you expect it to be, ie from other documents such as a census record.
*Birth not registered - Yes, you may have to consider the fact that a birth may not have been registered. Reasons for this is from 1837 to 1874 that births were compulsory but there was no penalty for non registration by the parents or a midwife. In those day the duty was on the registrar and his deputies to travel the district getting notes on new births. They probably got info from midwives or pillars of the community, especially in a small village, where everyone virtually knew everyone. Some births were missed even though the registrar got paid commission. About 15% of all births in England and Wales were unregistered inbetween 1837 and 1874. My 2xgreat grandfather George Musgrave (1856-1922) is such a case, he was baptised shortly after he was born but his birth was not registered, I have checked the GRO index and the Durham County Council indexes, where they indexed their own BMD records and found nothing. Yet his first cousin George Musgrave, who died as a child, was registered. They were both born to 2 brothers in the same village, Evenwood, County Durham, England. The registrar may have noted the birth of one George but not the other, he may have been informed of one birth but not the other.
Category:Genealogy documents.
Category:Tips and hints.
Category:Birth, Marriage And Death Certificates.
Category:Useful info for tracing ancestors.