Birth Registrations

[mikethetiler]

Hi All,

As a newcomer, please accept my apologies if this question has been asked before.

I notice if I search for records of births and deaths there are frequently consecutive birth then death records for the same person in the same quarter with an age at death entered as 0 years. Is this a record of a live birth followed by death within hours or a short period of weeks, or all births whether live or dead? Is or was there a set policy of recording?

thanks

Mike

[borobabs]

Sorry Mike I dont know the answer to that but wanted to say welcome to Family tree forum you will find them good helpful friendly lot ;;enjoy

[Olde Crone Holden]

Hello Mike and welcome to FTF.

Not sure where you are looking. Indexes and registrations of births and deaths are compiled separately and are not cross referenced by the GRO.

Age 0 at death just means under one year, so the death could have occurred shortly after birth (the same day) or upto one day before the child's first birthday. Obviously, if a birth and death occur in the same quarter, the child was less than three months old.

OC

[Night Owl]

Hi Mike and welcome to the forum.

If the baby was born alive, even if it only lived for a few moments, it would have been treated as a live birth and required a birth registration and subsequent death registration.

If however the baby was stillborn, there would be no birth or death registraion. Since 1927 stillbirths have been registered separately.

There is a better explanation of this here

Stillbirth - Family Tree Forum

[KiteRunner]

Mike, if I understand your question correctly, you are asking whether a stillbirth would be registered as a birth and a death on the main birth and death indexes? The answer to that is no, those indexes only include live births. There is a separate register for stillbirths but the index is not available online and the entries are only available to the parents of the stillborn child or a brother or sister of the child, if both parents are dead. We have a section about it in our Wiki:
Stillbirth - Family Tree Forum

(snap, Jackie!)

[mikethetiler]

Thanks for the info. evryone, it also answers the question as to why this is prevalent in the late 1800's as the relevant act was dated 1874.

Mike

PS it seems there are many like me who have realised that the freebmd site works much faster late at night when all sane people should be tucked up in bed!

[kylejustin]

works wonders during the day when all you brits are in bed.:D:D