Missing Birth Records
BIRTH RECORDS
Genealogist and former deputy registrar Antony Marr shares his top tips for tracking down missing births
Professional genealogist and former deputy registrar Antony Marr shares his expert advice to help you track down missing births and smash those brick walls
The world we live in today is driven by information and data. Whenever we are asked for our details, or we fill in an official form, the key piece of information we always have to supply, after our name, is our date of birth. You will find it on your driving licence, on your passport and on almost every official record that has been created about you. It is the one anniversary that (almost) every one of us celebrates each year.
It isn’t surprising then that we always want to discover the precious dates of birth of our ancestors.
The Name’s The Same
For family historians, that little nugget of information is what helps us to separate all of those potential ancestors whose parents showed such little imagination when it came to naming their children. There will often be more than one child with the same name born in a particular place in the same year, and maybe in the same quarter. But born on the exact same day? It’s possible, but much less likely.
However, was recalling an accurate birthdate something that our ancestors were required to do in the same way? Looking at the variation in ages between census entries that we often encounter, we can probably assume not. So understanding where and when this important birth fact might be found and how to search for it can be vital in establishing reliable evidence in our research.
For relations born after 1837 (in England and Wales), 1855 (in Scotland) and 1864 (in Ireland), we can go to the official civil record – the register of births. But for those who were born earlier, or who slipped through the registration system later, we have to resort to searching in other records that might hold this essential information.
Created at the end of September 1939, the primary purpose of the 1939 Register for England and Wales was to support the issue of ration books and identity cards. However, unlike the 10-yearly census the register recorded the birthdate of each household member, not just their age. You can use this to find the dates of birth of all those siblings and cousins of your ancestors. Note that some people may have cut a year or two from their age, so always check the entries against those in the GRO birth indexes.
Remember that not everyone is included (for example, those already serving in the armed forces won’t normally appear), and register entries for anyone under 100 years old (and potentially still alive) are redacted.
The 1939 Register is now available on both ancestry.co.uk and findmypast. co.uk. For Scotland, searches can be requested through the National Records of Scotland’s website ( nrscotland.gov.uk), and for Northern Ireland you can make an application through the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland ( proni.gov.uk).