Curioser and curioser ... my Dad has 2 birth records !

[Lydart]

My Dad was born 3 Aug 1907 ... I've found him on FreeBMD in the Sept Q for Fulham, (and have just sent for the cert from GRO) ... named as HANHAM, William Frederick.

The birth cert he had was issued in 1930, under the name of William Frederick Poplett ... father unknown, mother Caroline Hanham.   I knew he was illegitimate, and the man Caroline subsequently married was Alfred Poplett ... but she married him a year after my fathers birth, and on his apprenticeship papers dated 1924, 'father' has been crossed out, and 'guardian' substituted all the way thru', guardian being named as Alfred Poplett. 

A nice little roots mystery to be solved !

Lydart

[Nadine Moore]

Hi Lydart

Have you found the entry for his second birth certificate under the name Poplett. If so, have you looked at the actual entries to see if there is anything noted beside either one.

Is it possible his mother & stepfather had his birth cert changed legally after they married.

Not going as far back as you but my daughter will have the same thing for her birth registration. When she was born I was not married, so her birth was registered under my maiden name (both myself and her father were at the registration). When we subsequently married, we sent her original birth cert and our marriage cert away and had her name changed legally to her father's.

I have found both entries and there is a hand written note next to each entry referring to the other entry.

Good luck with solving your mystery

Dinie

[Lydart]

Well I've now got a copy of Dad's birth cert from GRO; it gives his surname as William Frederick Poplett; born 1907, just as on the copy he had made in 1930.  But why would FreeBMD record him as Hanham ?   And not as Poplett ? 

So was Alf Poplett actually his father ?  If so, why delete 'father' all the way through apprenticeship papers in 1924 ?  You'd think that between the birth in 1907 and signing the papers in 1924, he'd have had enough time to be persuaded the boy was his ... but apparently not !!  He didn't even put 'step-son' ...

Anyone have any opinions on this mystery ??

Lydart

[Chipesch]

Re-registration of illegitimate children was introduced in 1926.
So so they couldn't do it in 1924. When a birth is re-registered the original certificate is "closed" and you get the new one. However the original index remains to show he was illegitimate at the time of birth.

Bob

[janan]

Hi
If you look at the original registration index entry it says William Frederick P Hanham - P for Poplett? Looks like Caroline may well have been sure  Alf was the father. No note of cross referencing to the later re-registration
Jan

[jenjoburg]

William is my grandmother's brother. She was May Victoria Poplett, born 1903. She was registered as May Poplett Hanham. Your info was helpful

[Girl Guide]

I appreciate Lydart that you started this topic in 2006 and have now presumably got William's birth record details and certificate from the GRO.

HANHAM, WILLIAM  FREDERICK POPLETT    COX 
GRO Reference: 1907  S Quarter in FULHAM  Volume 01A  Page 200

There doesn't appear to be any record of re-registration under the surname of Poplett/Popplett

[LizzieL]

Looks like Poplett was his 3rd forename, not an alternative surname. His surname was Hanham as that was his mother's surname at the time of his birth. She was Caroline Cox, first married to Alfred Henry Hanham in 1892.

[Girl Guide]

I see from the 1939 that William has now become Poplett presumably because his mother married Alfred Poplett.

Or did she?  I can't see any marriage of an Alfred Poplett to anyone called Caroline between 1911 and 1950.