Birth Certificate details different from England & Wales Birth Index

[hattie]

I am totally confused.

I am researching a line of the family with the surname Knowles.

On the England & Wales Birth Index I located a male born in 1941 with this surname and it matched up with the correct maiden name for the mother and registration district in Stafford.

I have just received a copy of the birth certificate and under Name it gives the correct forename but a different surname. The Father details have been left blank.

I gave the GRO the correct Index, Volume etc so does this mean that perhaps the mother had the details altered after the original birth was registered? I have been told that there is a possibility that her husband was a bigamist which further complicates matters !

[Mary from Italy]

She may have re-registered the birth with a different surname, yes, possibly after remarrying.

Have a look at the birth index again, and see if the name on the birth certificate is there. The original birth name should appear once, but the new name should appear twice, in two different years (one being the year and quarter of actual birth, and the other being the year and quarter of re-registration), with a handwritten footnote at the end of the page (you'll need to look at the image).

[hattie]

Mary

Just checked using different surname but nothing shows up for 1941 or 1942 with correct mother's details or area. What is strange is the same mother went on to have another boy in 1948 but again the father's details were left blank. I know she eventually moved to Australia. I would have thought with the stigma attached to being a single parent in those days, she would have preferred her allegedly bigamist's husband's name to go on the certificate rather than nothing at all?

[willsmum]

Hattie,

Have sent you a private message as may include living people.

[hattie]

Thank you Wills Mum. Now think it may not have been the husband who was the bigamist but the wife who was up to no good?

[Mike Fisher]

A good tip is to apply for the certificate from the local register office who will have all the information.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Mary

I would have thought with the stigma attached to being a single parent in those days, she would have preferred her allegedly bigamist's husband's name to go on the certificate rather than nothing at all?

But family, friends and neighbours may not have even known the personal circumstances let alone what was/wasn't on the birth cert. "Short" birth certs were available (and cheaper) which didn't name either parent.

Jay

[hattie]

A good tip is to apply for the certificate from the local register office who will have all the information.

Mike

When you say apply to the local register office who will have all the information, what do you mean? I always assumed that the certificates ordered from GRO would have the same detail on them as certificates ordered locally?

[margaretmarch]

The certs from GRO are copied information from the registers which are held by the original Register Office so I guess what Mike is saying is that if there is some confusion the local Register Office are better placed to sort it out and explain it to you. The reference details you have for GRO do not apply to local Register Office records so you will need to tell the dates involved and the names you have for them to trace stuff.
I understand from others on here that the local offices are often very helpful over the phone.
Margaret

[margaretmarch]

Another point is that certificates do not give surnames - the surname is assumed from the father's name if given of if none shown it will be the mother's surname at the time. In this case she has given a maiden name too so she must have had a married name that would have been given to the child. Presumably Knowles if that is what the index shows for the registration.
Margaret

[hattie]

Another point is that certificates do not give surnames - the surname is assumed from the father's name if given of if none shown it will be the mother's surname at the time. In this case she has given a maiden name too so she must have had a married name that would have been given to the child. Presumably Knowles if that is what the index shows for the registration.
Margaret

As individuals may still be alive, pm sent !

[margaretmarch]

I've had a look at the index for the details you PM'd and think what I have said is what has happened.
The two first names (which look like a first name and a surname) have been attached to the mother's name at the time and she has given her maiden name as well. So although the certificate has no name in the father column the two first names and her surname are what will be used.
Was the mother married to Knowles at the time of the birth?
Margaret
There is no indication of a re registration on the BMD index image.

[margaretmarch]

I can see the first marriage details in 1930 and there are several children before the one you are talking about in 1941. The husband may have been away at War at this point!

My thought is that they got divorced and then she married the man who fathered the child in 1941 and the child in 1948.

The fact of it taking until 1955 for her to marry the father of the 2 later children may have been to do with the fact that she might have had to wait 5 years to take out divorce proceedings if the husband did not agree.
Margaret

[margaretmarch]

I have sent you some births for siblings of Mr Knowles which may help.
Margaret