Passport problem

RAS

TonyMMM wrote: »

They are chased up - a number of letters will be sent to the mother reminding them of the requirement to register, after which the case is referred to the General Register Office.

GRO can prosecute the mother/parents but rarely (if ever) do these days.

As far as I know the second birth was not registered under the name the second child grew up with. The local papers suggest that the circumstances of the first child's death indicated possible neglect/injury.

The mother relocated at some point around the second child's birth and lived with a family. The older woman in the family told the child that their mother used to go off for periods of time and leave the child or go off and take the child and return with it in a very poor state.

At some point the older woman told the mother that the child was remaining in her house and the mother leaving, or she would involve Social Services. Which is how the "foster" arrangement became permanent.

It is possible that the mother avoided health/social services in both her old and new areas or that she relocated deliberately to prevent their involvement in the care of the second child. The husband does not seem to have been known to the foster family. It is possible that the child was registered somewhere in another name and brought up in the first child's name.

It was however a bit of a shock for the now adult to learn that their name was that of a dead sibling and the possible circumstances of that death.

mgdavid

RAS wrote: »

As far as I know the second birth was not registered under the name the second child grew up with. The local papers suggest that the circumstances of the first child's death indicated possible neglect/injury.
..........

What other information does a thorough trawl of the local papers turn up? Original parents / dead sibling's names? Locality? Clues to parents' ages?
One organisation that have huge experience of tracing antecedents where officialdom has failed is the Salvation Army
http://www.look4them.org.uk/salvation-army.html
they may well know methods that haven't been mentioned yet.

GobbledyGook

DUTR wrote: »

How can that be that the 2nd birth was not registered? Especially after so long since the loss of the 1st one, As far as I know children can have the same names, one of my friend's he and his brother have the same middle name.

It depends on how long ago we're talking.

Now it would be much more difficult to not register a birth, but years ago it was relatively easy because there was no contact between midwife/hospital and registrar.

I did a family tree for someone whose Great-Grandad's birth wasn't registered until he started school. The school wanted his birth certificate and it was then that the mother realised that with her husband away at sea, a newborn baby who'd been born early and was quite sickly and 8 other children she'd completely forgotten to register the birth. Apparently the Gr-Grandad grew up surrounded by a never ending stream of jokes from his siblings.


It was very common for children to be given the same name as a deceased sibling though. Especially, I've found, when the name was 'after' someone. In fact (and I don't know if it's a particularly Scottish thing), but I've found it a good tool when searching. If a child has the name of the paternal grandfather, for example, but is not the first son then there is a high chance (assuming other children follow the pattern) that there was an older sibling with that name.

Mojisola

GobbledyGook wrote: »

I did a family tree for someone whose Great-Grandad's birth wasn't registered until he started school. The school wanted his birth certificate and it was then that the mother realised that with her husband away at sea, a newborn baby who'd been born early and was quite sickly and 8 other children she'd completely forgotten to register the birth.

In some of the rural areas of Ireland, the parents didn't always make it into town to register the birth in time. To avoid the fine given for a late registration, the baby's birth date was adjusted.

I've got several relatives who were baptised before they were officially born.