RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: mrs_tease on Saturday 17 January 09 14:37 GMT (UK)
-
I read somewhere that when a time of birth is shown on the birth certificate, it is to show that the baby is one of twins ( or more) by law they had to put the time of birth on it.
I'm not 100% sure its correct , anyone any idea?
If it is right then I may have just found the missing twin but have to hang on till next pay day to get the cert lol :P
-
Is this where you read it?
http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/births.htm (scroll down to the date and place) if not, then it is another source, confirming that if a time is on the cert, they were twins...
An interesting fact to know, as I have several sets twins in my family tree! :)
-
Hi,
You might find this useful for England/Wales birth information http://www.dixons.clara.co.uk/Certificates/births.htm
"If there is a time against the date of birth then there was more than one child born alive at the birth. If however a mother had twins, one liveborn and one stillborn, then the live born twin will not have a time against the birth. Until 1926 there were no registrations at all of a still born child. Having said that, again the early registrations are not consistent. The registrar in the Eton district did not put the times of births of twins in the registers at all until 1845 while the one in Stoke-on-Trent put times against all the registrations up until about 1850. It is possible to check for twins by looking for identical or consecutive GRO references in the indexes"
Barbara :)
Sorry Daisy, same ref, great minds think alike!
-
From the GRO which sort of gives you an answer
Under the provisions of the Civil Registration Act, 2004, the time of birth is part of the schedule of particulars to be registered in the register of births.
Prior to the introduction of the schedule, the time of birth was only entered in the Register of Births in the case of a multiple birth i.e. twins, triplets etc. Where information on the time of birth is not registered, the hospital or nursing home where the birth occurred may still have records of the actual time of birth.
The way I read this is that it is not necessarily law but common practice
Sallysmum
-
It is possible to check for twins by looking for identical or consecutive GRO references in the indexes"
Have you managed to find two children in the same quarter with same volume and page numbers?
Barbara
-
The time will only be entered if the informant gave the details and the registrar recorded them.
There are instances where times are not entered on a cert relating to multiple births and there are instances where a registrar recorded the time of birth when only one child was born.
As often what should happen and what actually happens can be worlds apart.
The reason the time should be recorded is because (in part at least) for inheritance purposes, the oldest child may only be a minute or two older but in legal terms a minute is as good as a decade for inheritance purposes.
The usual clue from the bmd index is to find two entries in the same quarter and district with either consecutive or identical page numbers, but only the certs will prove conclusively that two children share the same parents.
-
I have birth certificates for a set of twins born 1876 and they do indeed show the time of birth. There was 15 minutes between births.
Kerry
-
yes, 2 girls registered at the same time,same page etc. On the certificate I have it shows the birth was at 5-20am at home, it wasn't until I read about registering times, that I went back and checked. There is also a death registered for the 2nd girl in the next quarter.
-
I think the death registration you mention lends more strength to a mutiple birth occuring, several times either one or both of the assorted twins in my tree failed to survive.
Although you don't mention where and when i notice you have Lincolnshire rellies, the majority of my twin births are Lincoln and around 1905-1930, i have a dozen birth certs and 10 show a time, two don't, it's the date, place of birth and parents that prove the children are twins.
One set i can't say either way as i went for the death certs instead but again the address proves the connection as it matches another set of twins born 15 months before.
-
Great information, which I did not know, and having numerous twins in my line I find it very helpful, thanks all.
The reason the time should be recorded is because (in part at least) for inheritance purposes, the oldest child may only be a minute or two older but in legal terms a minute is as good as a decade for inheritance purposes.
Well I am glad they don't worry about that today, being that I am 10 minutes younger than my twin ;D ;D
Margaret
-
I have birth certificates for a set of twins born 1876 and they do indeed show the time of birth. There was 15 minutes between births.
Kerry
Snap :) Just received my certificates from GRO for 1919 and 15 minutes apart. :)
Twins run in our family, dad being a twin, must dig out the birth certificate and see what it says, but I was always told he was the younger, the other twins I have come across they just state whether "older" or "younger"
Cheers
KHP
-
Kiwi
Twins run in my family too, I have one family who had 3 sets! My mum was a twin and I haven't seen her birth certificate, I would be interested to see what they wrote by the 1940s. I think she was the youngest.
Kerry
-
Kerry,
Twins on dads side, his mothers side, his fathers side, not to mention twins on my mothers side as well ...... must sit down one day and count them ;D
Dad was in 1909 so like you it would be interesting to see how it compares with todays ones. The ones for twins that I have found have been the registration.
Cheers
KHP
-
Kiwi
A couple of years ago I started a thread on Rootschat about how many twins people had on their trees, I counted mine and there were many twins, can't remember the exact number. Unfortunately the thread got moved to ToT board, and of course it was deleted after 3 months and disappeared. >:(
But it would seem that twins in families are more common than I first expected them to be.
Kerry
-
Kerry,
On one side I have a set of twins unnamed. :(
Some are identical and the others are a pigeon pair. Not every twin survived either.
Cheers
KHP
-
I watched a program once about Twins, and apparently, they are more common than people may think! Appararently it is said, that if you are left handed, you more than likely started life in the womb as a twin. There was a lengthy explanation for this, and it really did make sense!
-
The address i have is in Hull, although a large part of the family did come from Lincolnshire aswell.
The certificate I do have is from 1874
My birthday is coming up soon and I'm making a list of certificates people can buy me lol, guess which is at the top :P
-
Hi
My mum was a twin. Her maternal grandmother had two siblings who were twins.
I agree that the time of birth listed for twins was for inheritance purposes plus a variety of other reasons.
Ben
-
I watched a program once about Twins, and apparently, they are more common than people may think! Appararently it is said, that if you are left handed, you more than likely started life in the womb as a twin. There was a lengthy explanation for this, and it really did make sense!
Isn't the heart of one twin the other way around in identical twins ? Or is that a myth ?
-
I watched a program once about Twins, and apparently, they are more common than people may think! Appararently it is said, that if you are left handed, you more than likely started life in the womb as a twin. There was a lengthy explanation for this, and it really did make sense!
Isn't the heart of one twin the other way around in identical twins ? Or is that a myth ?
I think that's got to be a myth!
I'm left handed & always put it down to my left handed mum showing my how to hold a pen :o)
-
Definitely a myth - surely ::)
I'm left handed, so was my dad, my mum was ambidextrous!
Kerry
-
I'm sure I watched a TV program where it said that one twin of an identical pair is more prone to heart problems because the heart sits the other way around, or maybe I was just dreaming ? :)
-
I'll ask my mum, she's an identical twin. There are a lot of strange things about identical twins ie my mum and sister shared each other's labour pains. :o
Kerry
-
I'll ask my mum, she's an identical twin. There are a lot of strange things about identical twins ie my mum and sister shared each other's labour pains. :o
Kerry
;D ;D I've heard that, but also have heard that the male twin suffered very minor symptoms throughout the 9 months, unless someoone made that up ;D, I know for sure I didn't dream it. ;D
-
Hi
I have heard that twins in the family is hereditary and skips a generation.
Ben
-
Fraternal twins is heritary but identical twins is not. However if the mother is an identical twin, there is a slightly higher probability that she will give birth to twins
-
I watched a program once about Twins, and apparently, they are more common than people may think! Appararently it is said, that if you are left handed, you more than likely started life in the womb as a twin. There was a lengthy explanation for this, and it really did make sense!
Isn't the heart of one twin the other way around in identical twins ? Or is that a myth ?
Its a myth based on a true event.
As a rule it doesn't happened. However, there was a celebrated case where it did happen (if you do an internet search you may find it) and it is from this that the myth arose.
-
Hi
My mum had a twin brother. The siblings of their grandmother were twin brother and sister, so that must explain things.
Ben
-
The program I watched (Discovery or something like that) was referring to mirror image twins...so not identical. Just note, that I said said started out life in the womb as a twin. Most of the time, the twin that wasn't born, was either absorbed back into the placenta, or never grew. But they were saying that is where being left handed comes from...something to do with the opposite side of the brain.
As you can probably tell, I am not very good and remembering all the info...but it was along those lines!
-
Hi
I have heard that twins in the family is hereditary and skips a generation.
Ben
I had heard that too, however after looking at my family history there are so many sets of twins dotted all of the place, I really couldn't come to any conclusions. However it was true on the female side, I would have been due to have them, thankfully circumstances meant I missed having children ;D ;D ;D ;) ;) ;)
Kerry
-
hi all
my great great grannie in ireland had 3 sets of twins in a row on theri birth certs there are no times listed to were boy,girl twins one was two boys. my great grannie who came to usa had a set of twin boys and remeber she herself was a twin. unfotunatley the boys died at 5 months from measles. my grandmother did not have twins that i know of bu i hada set of identical girls myself and now my twin daughter is due in may to have twin boys so the trend continues
rose