Stillbirths

[Lloydy]

Hi,this is my first post so bear with me....In 1959 i had a sister who was stillborn and according to my mother she was taken away within an hour of being born and was buried in the same coffin as a neighbour who was being buried that day.She was never baptised or even registered and still hasn't been to this day,all this happened in Portsmouth in March 1959.When i've questioned my mother about this issue she always says"that's the way it was done in those days".

I have exactly the same situation as you......the only difference being my sister was stillborn in 1962.

I contacted the GRO to see whether I could obtain a copy of a certificate but was advised that only the parents named are able to do this.  I will be able to once my parents have died (horrible thought).

I cannot discuss my sister with either of my parents, they have just blocked it all out and prefer to leave it that way.  Very sad.

Jan

[pompeyboy]

Hi Janan
             I agree it all seemed so cold and calculated and treated as though they were not human at all.Nice to meet you.

Steve

[pompeyboy]

Hi Lloydy
             It is very sad,it must have been terrible for the parents of such babies that they couldn't even hold their child even for a few moments,luckily for me i was only about 2 yrs old and don't remember anything about it.Nice to meet you.

Steve

[Lloydy]

Hi Steve

Good to meet you too

Even luckier for me, I wasn't born until 5 years later.

Hope you enjoy Rootschat

Jan

[LFS]

Dear All
The Church of England situation is you can't baptize stillborn children - they are blessed instead.
Linda

[LFS]

Dear All
But they do have a proper funeral nowadays - it's one of the things hospital chaplains do.
Linda

[janan]

Hi Steve
Nice to meet you too - hope to see you around the boards. Have fun
Jan (the other one )

Hi Linda,
Yes things are very much improved these days.
Jan

[Guy Etchells]

I have exactly the same situation as you......the only difference being my sister was stillborn in 1962.

I contacted the GRO to see whether I could obtain a copy of a certificate but was advised that only the parents named are able to do this.  I will be able to once my parents have died (horrible thought).

I cannot discuss my sister with either of my parents, they have just blocked it all out and prefer to leave it that way.  Very sad.

Jan

The reply you got from the GRO is not actually correct.
The GRO policy is that only the parents of the stillborn child may ask for a search of the stillbirth register and purchase a certificate but the law says different.

In law each application is actually dependent on the decision of the Registrar General.
It is possible that the Registrar General would be willing to accept an application from a sibling and direct the GRO to provide a certificate.
This has been done many times in the past the current guidance simply speeds up the situation by not having to forward every application to the Registrar General.

Try writing to the Registrar General and explain the situation, stress the importance of being allowed to find closure on the loss of your sibling, a loss which though it happened years ago is very significant to you as a sibling. Stress also that the present guidance is actually causing more anguish fed by the fact you feel you are having to almost wish for the death of your parents before being allowed to know the truth about your sibling.
The 1953 Act section 30/3 states-
(3) The foregoing provisions of this section shall not apply to certified copies of entries in registers of still-births, but the Registrar General may, if he sees fit in any particular case and on payment of as aforesaid of the appropriate fee aforesaid, cause a search to be made for, and allow any person to have a certified copy of any entry in any such certified copies or in any filled register of still-births which has been forwarded to him.
Cheers
Guy

[nashua]

Hi,

I have recently acquired a birth certificate which my mother always assumed was my dads, but it has made me wonder if perhaps my dad had a stillborn twin.

The certificate is headed Form of Certificate of Registry of Birth or Stillbirth. It reads as follows:-

I, the undersigned, do hereby certify that the birth of a male/female child (still-) born on ........1930
has been duly registered by me at entry No 190 of my register book no 26 Informant............... qualifications of informant - father
Then it is signed & dated by registrar.

Although it gives my fathers date of birth the word still has not been crossed through.

Has anyone seen this form used before?

Nashua