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Thanks Bookbox.  Yes, I have been checking the hints rather that just blindly accepting them.  In fact most of them are links to records I'd already seen years ago, before the facility to link them to your tree on FindMyPast even existed, so it's been quite easy.  This one caught me out a bit because previously I only had an approximate DOB for William, calculated from census records and I'd not pursued his birth certificate. 

I was aware of the 1851 census record that you pointed out and that Sarah re-married, but I haven't yet got around to properly verifying it all. 

I also saw the suggestion on the other birth record that Sarah's maiden name was Collins, and I vaguely remember coming across this previously (I'm not terribly organised with keeping track of unfinished bits of research that never make it into my actual tree), and that I was a bit sceptical, but I suppose it wasn't quite as unusual back then for someone to marry someone with the same surname (or even a cousin) as it is now.  I have found at least one other case of a family member having married a distant relative.

Really what had puzzled me was how the mother's maiden name was appearing in a transcription when that information is not on the image linked to that record. 
I'm sure FindMyPast never used to show that information - otherwise I'd have found it.  Have they gone to all the individual certificates and transcribed the MMN?  If so - how wonderful - I just couldn't find anywhere on their website that confirmed that was the case and I wasn't sure if I could trust the information.

I did have a jolly good look at this particular line quite a while ago and thus had found the family in every available census bar the 1851 one, but I do my research is mostly online and a lot of record sets have been added and the indexing improved since I started doing this about 15 years back.

Anyway, I'm quite enjoying re-visiting and reviewing my tree gradually - going over each line in turn, verifying and seeing what new data is available.  There are about 700 people on my tree, and I was pretty meticulous with my checking before I added people/information, but most of it was done at least 10 years ago, so there are bound to be lots of gaps I can fill and things to be corrected.

It's like a garden - never 'finished'. 

Thanks for your help.

Hmmm - now I realise they've also matched him to 2Q 1843 Tonbridge Vol 5 P464 with a mother's maiden name of 'Collins', so that one may actually be the correct one.

I suppose I can't tell without paying for both of the original birth certificates referenced 

I just started following up a load of 'hints' on my FindMyPast family tree and clicked on the Civil Births record that was suggested for my GGG - grandfather, William Collins (b1943).

I have never known his mother's maiden name so was interested to see it given as 'Jennings' on the transcription, but I'm puzzled as to where it came from as when I view the image that the transcript was taken from, this detail is not there.

Can anyone shed any light on this - has anyone else come across similar?  I'm thinking it must be an error, although part of me it hoping that it isn't.

Surely the only place that information can have come from is the actual birth certificate - and I'm sure they can't have got it from there 

forester Thanks  - That does make some kind of sense.  I was told he was blinded in one eye in the war, but maybe that was before he was in the batallion formed from this unfit for frontline duty.

David I'll try and post a picture shortly...

Thank you both for your help and interest.

Anne-Marie