Help!!!births not recorded on BMD index?

[squancette]

Please help!!
One branch of my tree is causing no end of trouble.

I have a Dennis Otter who is a colour sergeant in the Royal Marines when he got married in 1843. Have him on census's with his wife and then children, with names, places of birth etc. Have marriage certificate.

Problem is not a single one of the 6 children is on the civil index of births, and they are in 3 different counties, so did the military keep different records? If so are they available to be looked at? Is it heard of for whole families not to be registered at all???

They were born between 1844 and 1863. Not even the last one in 1863 is listed, even though Dennis is by then a Greenwich Pensioner (1861 census).

Have been at this on and off for too long now so please help!

Thanks squancette

[CatOne]

Could this not be Julia's birth reg?

Julia Alice Otter September 1857 Stepney Vol 1c Page 464

[stanmapstone]

The military did not keep different records in England and Wales. Unfortunately the Act of 1836 omitted to impose any penalty for failure by the parent to register a birth, an omission which was rectified only by the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1874 which made such failure punishable by a fine of £2.00. No doubt the majority of births were notified to the Registrar either by the parents or by the local clergy, but there was some opposition to registration in different localities, and registrations between 1837 and 1874 must, therefore, be regarded as incomplete.

Stan

[GeoffE]

And this one

Births Sep 1846 
OTTER    Charles William         Wells    10   472

[celia]

squancette
Have you seen all 20 registrations for Otter in 1863 ?You havent given any names so cant tell if child there or not,but have taken them

Celia

[squancette]

Thank you all for your help so far, the child that I am really desperate for is Eleanor Laura Otter (sometimes down as Ellen Laura), born 1849/1850 Portsmouth (from census).

I have her marriage cert., but would really like her birth cert.

We only started looking for the siblings on the index because we couldn't find her. The Julia and the Charles look very promising, and I don't know how we missed them on ancestry when viewing the index!!!!

The other names are Sarah 1844 Woolwich, Emma 1849 woolwich, Caroline 1863 Stepney. All dates are from census, so not totally accurate!!

Any help is always appreciated.

Thanks

[celia]

I found an Ellen Otter (old writing faded in parts)Reg what looks like   Rerford xv 472 oct 1/4 1848

I then found in the April 1/4 1849 Otter Emma Reg Basford xu 426
Might  the top registration be Basford as well
Cant find Caroline anywher.

Celia

[andycand]

Hi
The Rerford is East Retford, shown on index as E Retford and is in Nottinghamshire

Andy

[squancette]

I will ask the gro for a reference check on the Ellen Otter, just to rule it out, as her Father Dennis was born in Radcliffe also Notts.
 As far as we know, if the census is to be believed, and it is our Ellen, she was born in Portsmouth, and her father is a royal marine. What we know as fact from her wedding cert, is that her father is Dennis. Anecdotally we knew that this branch of the family had come from Nottinghamshire somewhere.
But there are a lot of Otters around this area at that time, and particularly around Retford, and again Basford is close by too.

Thanks for all your efforts.
Alex