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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Topic started by: Countryquine on Sunday 01 April 12 14:33 BST (UK)
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In OPRs there are often mentions of stillborn children, but was there any requirement to register stillborn babies after 1855 in Scotland, and if so, how best could you search for a registration? I know my grandmother spoke of her first child being stillborn, but I know nothing else about it. (This would have been 1915-1919)
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There is a register of stillbirths, but it can't be accessed, even if you go to Edinburgh.
John
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In Scotland stillbirths were not registered until 1939. Before that, if a child lived for a few seconds, it had a birth and death certificate. If it were stillborn there was no record.
Graham.
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Hi Countryquine
Just some additional background notes to those already posted:
www.gla.ac.uk/departments/scottishwayofbirthanddeath/death/stillbirths/
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/Content/FAQs/Questions/index.aspx?1319
For both periods you are looking at, there are no records to search for unfortunately.
Monica
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You do sometimes get a burial record for a stillborn child.
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Thanks to all for your comments and information. It has obviously been a very difficult issue from the time registration began. It is very sad to think that there may be a record of the baby who would have been my uncle or aunt, but no-one can access it, though part of me thinks that it was and should remain a very private tragedy for my grandparents, so perhaps I have no right to intrude. He or she would have been loved, however short their time on this earthand they are re-united now.
Reading the links mentioned emphasises for me how harsh life must have been for our ancestors.