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Baptism before registration?

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  • Baptism before registration?

    Is it possible for a baptism to take place before the child was registered?

    The couple of baptisms i have found in a family of 12 seen to have taken place before the child was registered.

    One baptism was on Hugh Wallis gave a birth date as.

    born 19 June 1848
    baptised 25 June 1848

    Yet registered sept quarter 1848



    Sylvia
    Sylvia

    Derbyshire :- Gough, Tomlinson, Fletcher, Shipley, Spencer, Calladine, Rogers, Kerry, Robotham
    Leicestershire:- Gough, Cooper, Underwood, Hearn, Inglehearn
    Staffordshire:- Robotham, Hickinbotham, Hill, Holmes

  • #2
    It would seem quite reasonable to me to be baptised first, especially in the days of high infant mortality. Fear of God still causes that to happen if a baby is ill. The baptism can be far more important than a bit of legal paperwork! in my own family I have a baby that was baptised, then died, so the father had to go back to the district the babe was born in to register the birth, before he could register the death, and did that on the same day! So you can see the registration of the birth was quite insignificant, there were far more important things to worry about.
    Sue x


    Looking for Hanmores in Kent, Blakers in Essex and Kent, Pickards in East London and Raisons in Somerset.

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    • #3
      Thank you Sue, the poor father in your tree, having to travel to register the birth must have felt terrible.

      Sylvia
      Sylvia

      Derbyshire :- Gough, Tomlinson, Fletcher, Shipley, Spencer, Calladine, Rogers, Kerry, Robotham
      Leicestershire:- Gough, Cooper, Underwood, Hearn, Inglehearn
      Staffordshire:- Robotham, Hickinbotham, Hill, Holmes

      Comment


      • #4
        Babies are still often baptised in hospital soon after birth if very ill and not expected to survive.
        I've several too where the child has only lived hours or days and seems to have been baptised at home.
        I think the saddest is a great uncle having to register his childs birth and wifes death on the same day then a few days later registered the childs death. Both mother and child died from Smallpox. The baby must have contracted it in the womb:(
        Daphne

        Looking for Northey, Goodfellow, Jobes, Heal, Lilburn, Curry, Gay, Carpenter, Johns, Harris, Vigus from Cornwall, Somerset, Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, USA, Australia.

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        • #5
          In at least one branch of my family baptism within a week or two of birth was the norm. The registration took place later, if at all! They evidently saw the church as more important than the registrar.
          Don't forget also that at that time it was the responsibility of the registrar to find out about births and get them registered, rather than of the parents to seek out the registrar so perhaps he noted that the baptsm had taken place and then called round to remind them to register.
          Judith passed away in October 2018

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          • #6
            Baptism was regarded as important for religious, social and economic reasons. And you only needed to travel as far as your local parish church. It would often be done early, within days or a few weeks of the birth.

            Registration was an effort and in the days before people needed birth certs to get passports, open bank accounts or claim insurance, it wasn't seen as that important. You had 6 weeks to register, so often a birth would be registered in the quarter after the birth had occurred.



            Baptism and birth registration are separate events which aren't dependent on eachother.
            ~ with love from Little Nell~
            Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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            • #7
              Thank you all for your replies, thing is they were born/registered in Chesterfield, baptised in Chesterfield, yet lived in Temple Normanton, which according to Genuki is 3 miles away, i guess they liked walking.

              Sylvia
              Last edited by Ozzie Gert; 17-08-08, 13:38.
              Sylvia

              Derbyshire :- Gough, Tomlinson, Fletcher, Shipley, Spencer, Calladine, Rogers, Kerry, Robotham
              Leicestershire:- Gough, Cooper, Underwood, Hearn, Inglehearn
              Staffordshire:- Robotham, Hickinbotham, Hill, Holmes

              Comment


              • #8
                3 miles would be nothing in those days. And they may have gone by cart.

                Our ancestors walked much further than we did, often having no other mode of transport.

                My grandfather walked 13 miles from his home village to Norwich regularly.
                ~ with love from Little Nell~
                Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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                • #9
                  Gert, some vicars actually considered that it was wrong for the parents to register the baby with a Christian name until the baby had been baptised with that name!
                  KiteRunner

                  Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                  (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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                  • #10
                    And many people believed it was wrong for mother and baby to go out, before the baby had been baptised, as both were "unclean" from the sin of being born and giving birth!

                    Registration was just a civil formality. Baptism was essential, in most people's eyes.


                    OC

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                    • #11
                      Thank you Nell, Kite and OC, i didn`t know that vicars thought that way Kite.

                      I do remember the being "unclean' part though, when taking my first born to meet his gt grandmother for the first time hubbies aunt said don`t let her know you haven`t been churched or you won`t get in the door.

                      Sylvia
                      Sylvia

                      Derbyshire :- Gough, Tomlinson, Fletcher, Shipley, Spencer, Calladine, Rogers, Kerry, Robotham
                      Leicestershire:- Gough, Cooper, Underwood, Hearn, Inglehearn
                      Staffordshire:- Robotham, Hickinbotham, Hill, Holmes

                      Comment

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