Still birth?

[Nina Hughes]

Part of my family search includes trying to find a record of the birth/death of my great Aunt. I can find nothing to say she lived or died, no record at all and I really don't know where to look next.

Surname Aldridge, I believe she was named Jennifer * - parents Jack and Dorothy (nee Freeman) Aldridge. Date 3 May 1944 in Cheltenham. Not sure is she took a breath or was still born but apparently was born and died on the same day.

Please can anyone help?

Thank you

Nina

* Sorry I have had to remove the name of the surviving twin as we don't allow living people to be identified on this site. Of course, If you know she is deceased we can put the name back.
Judith

[clematised]

http://www.familytreeforum.com/showt...ight=stillborn One of our Members Guy Etchells has compiled the Still Born Register if you want to check out the link here it will take you to his thread all about it.

Edna

[Olde Crone Holden]

Nina

If the surviving twin's birth certificate has a time of birth on it, then it was indeed a live twin birth. If there is no time of birth, then either it was not a twin birth, OR the other twin was stillborn.

The Stillbirth register is not public and you would have to write to the Registrar to ask for a copy of the cert and give your reason for wanting it - it is at the discretion of the Registrar as to whether he issues the cert to anyone other than the parents or a sibling if the parents are deceased.

OC

[Nina Hughes]

Thanks Edna, had a look, but my relative not listed on it

[Nina Hughes]

Thank you OC

[Olde Crone Holden]

Nina

I can only see one birth registered, not two, so if you are sure they were twins then the other one was indeed stillborn.

OC

[darannon]

In a similar situation to this, my great aunt had twins in 1916. One of them only lived 8 hours, and has a separate birth and death certificate with the same date. She was the younger of the two - the other twin lived till she was 89.

[Gwyn in Kent]

As you know where and when the surviving twin was born, it would be possible to check church / graveyards local to that address to see if a burial record holds any helpful information.

Gwyn

[Olde Crone Holden]

Gwyn

It is always worth a look of course but I wouldn't hold out much hope of a burial record.

My ex husband and his first wife had twins, one of which was stillborn. (Home birth). The midwife handed my OH the baby in a shoebox and told him to take it up to the church. (My OH was a regular churchgoer). He was allowed to bury the baby after dark along the perimeter wall but this was not recorded (or at least I don't think it was). This was in 1963.

Normally, stillborn babies would be placed in the coffin of someone who was to be buried. This was so that the infant would benefit from a Christian burial, which would not otherwise be given to a soul which had never existed.

OC

[Gwyn in Kent]

Gosh OC, that seems awfully late for such a thing to happen.

I have in front of me a printout of burial records in Southampton for a surname of interest.
Admittedly the earlier ones do not give a full address, but I know date of burial and address of several still born children.
The earliest is 1861 through to 1968.
The later ones give full postal address, so it should be easy to work out parents for them.

Gwyn

[JBee]

I've just looked at the birth registration for my uncle who was said to be a twin but there isn't a record of another birth.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Chris

The other point is that not everyone can/could afford a funeral and a burial plot for a stillborn baby. My mother had a stillbirth in 1950, in Alder Hey hospital and at that time there was a rumour going round that stillbirths were put in the furnace. Of course, my mother was distraught and my father arranged for a funeral director to take the baby. He said the baby would be cremated in the proper manner. I never thought to ask my parents for the details and of course it is too late now. In those days I think you would have to actively make your own arrangements, otherwise the body would just be disposed of by the hopsital without ceremony or record.

OC

[Nina Hughes]

They were definitely twins OC

[Nina Hughes]

This was a home birth and the story goes that the midwife may have made mistakes and the incident was never fully brought up for discussion. My Aunt has always wanted some recognition of her sister existence.

[LeicestershireLass]

I've just looked at the birth registration for my uncle who was said to be a twin but there isn't a record of another birth.

I was told that my grandfather was a twin but could not find another birth record. It wasn't until recently, after I'd purchased a burial CD from local family history society, that I found his twin who was stillborn and buried a couple of days after birth.