Very confused

[Loopy Linda in La La Land]

Mr A was married to Mrs B they had a child which was registered as Mr. A's child in quarter 3

Then the child was registered with a different surname ,same birth quarter and year and same page and volume number.

The name he was registered under was the name of the man she married in quarter 4 the same year.

H E L P

Linda

[Uncle John]

That suggests that the child was the product of a liaison with Mr X, which caused Mr A to divorce her. Once divorced she could marry Mr X. The birth info could be adjusted by the registrar at any stage when Mrs B and Mr X claimed the change of paternity. Simples.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Linda

I interpret that differently from UJ.

If the birth registration appears twice on the same page with the same volume number then all that has happened is that the child has been INDEXED twice (remember the indexes are a finding aid). Mrs B has not claimed that her husband is the father of her child, she has claimed that Mr X is the father of her child.

Example:

Mrs Smith, maiden name Brown, has an affair with Mr Jones. They have a child whose birth is INDEXED as:

Joe Smith mmn Brown 9e 641
Joe Jones mmn Brown 9e 641

This cross referencing leads to only one certificate. Until very recently, there was no column for the surname of a child and therefore the birth would be indexed in both surnames where the parents were not married to each other.

OC

OC

[Olde Crone Holden]

Added to say:

You don't know unless you have the birth cert that she registered the child as her husband's just because she used her married name. It was her name after all!

OC

[JBee]

The husband of a married woman was automatically registered as the father of her child unless told differently. The husband could inform the authorities that he wasn't or the wife.

[clematised]

Yes I have this type of Birth in a close family member, Mother married to a Mr A while she had been in a liason with a MrB child was born and given mr Bs first and last names as first and middle name while he was away at sea in RN, within the same time frame of 11 months she changed the childs name to Fathers first name and Surname losing the middle name, I have two copies of the Birth Cert using both names of the child. Birth certs both have comments in the margin.
Mother later divorced her husband Mr A and married MrB

Edna

[Loopy Linda in La La Land]

Thank you. I looked on the ER and the child is listed with the name of the 'second' husband. That's what confused me in the first place.

Looks like I will have to get the birth certificate to be certain.

Thanks again for the help

Linda

[Olde Crone Holden]

Linda

You can call yourself whatever you choose as long as it is not with intent to feloniously deceive. As there is no surname column on the BC at that date, the child can choose to use any of the surnames listed on the cert (mother, father, mother's maiden name)...or any other surname they choose.

If both indexes have exactly the same number and are on the same page then there is only one cert. A re-registration (to legitimize the child, or to remove a married man's name from the cert if he is not the child's father) would say something like "see D'44" and that would lead you to a different registration in a different month/year etc, as in Edna's example above.

OC

[Tilly Mint]

My grandmother had a daughter, there is no name in the father box, she was married at the time to her 1st husband....I like to think she was having an affair with my grandfather who she married within weeks of 1st husband dying....my Dad had this daughter as his NOK on his army records even though he had older brother's.

If grandfather was the dad, could the cert have been changed at a later date?.....

[Tilly Mint]

My grandmother had a daughter, there is no name in the father box, she was married at the time to her 1st husband....I like to think she was having an affair with my grandfather who she married within weeks of 1st husband dying....my Dad had this daughter as his NOK on his army records even though he had older brother's.

If grandfather was the dad, could the cert have been changed at a later date?.....

""""Forget that....she married in the 1st husbands name on her marriage cert."""

Sorry...I couldn't edit my post!

[Olde Crone Holden]

Tilly

Yes, if a couple subsequently married, their child could be legitimised at a later date. At one time, this could only happen if both had been free to marry when their child was born. Later on it was allowed to legitimise a child even if the parents hadn't been free to marry. Sorry, not sure of the dates!

OC

[Tilly Mint]

Thanks, OC, this was 1918.

[Loopy Linda in La La Land]

Thanks OC a mine of information, as usual.

Linda

You can call yourself whatever you choose as long as it is not with intent to feloniously deceive. As there is no surname column on the BC at that date, the child can choose to use any of the surnames listed on the cert (mother, father, mother's maiden name)...or any other surname they choose.

If both indexes have exactly the same number and are on the same page then there is only one cert. A re-registration (to legitimize the child, or to remove a married man's name from the cert if he is not the child's father) would say something like "see D'44" and that would lead you to a different registration in a different month/year etc, as in Edna's example above.

OC

[Olde Crone Holden]

Legitimacy Act

1926 - allowed the legitimisation of children born out of wedlock where neither parent was married to someone else at the time of the child's birth

1959 - further amendment to allow legitimisation of a child born before the parents' subsequent marriage to each other EVEN IF one or both parents were married to someone else at the time of the child's birth.

In both cases a note is made in the INDEXES to take you to the legitimate registration which may be many years after the child's birth. (E.g. "see D71"). The "new" registration will not have the same index numbers as the original.

(A birth can only be registered once as you are only born once. Any amendment to that registration only produces a modified birth cert. In theory, you should only be able to get the most recent one but we know on here that often it is possible to get both).

OC