Twins

[mrs_tease]

I read somewhere that when a time of birth is shown on the birth certificate, it is to show that the baby is one of twins ( or more) by law they had to put the time of birth on it.

I'm not 100% sure its correct , anyone any idea?
If it is right then I may have just found the missing twin but have to hang on till next pay day to get the cert lol 

[Daisy Loo]

Is this where you read it?

http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/births.htm  (scroll down to the date and place)  if not, then it is another source, confirming that if a time is on the cert, they were twins...

An interesting fact to know, as I have several sets twins in my family tree!

[Ecneps]

Hi,

You might find this useful for England/Wales birth information http://www.dixons.clara.co.uk/Certificates/births.htm

"If there is a time against the date of birth then there was more than one child born alive at the birth. If however a mother had twins, one liveborn and one stillborn, then the live born twin will not have a time against the birth. Until 1926 there were no registrations at all of a still born child. Having said that, again the early registrations are not consistent. The registrar in the Eton district did not put the times of births of twins in the registers at all until 1845 while the one in Stoke-on-Trent put times against all the registrations up until about 1850. It is possible to check for twins by looking for identical or consecutive GRO references in the indexes"

Barbara  
Sorry Daisy, same ref, great minds think alike!

[sallysmum]

From the GRO which sort of gives you an answer

Under the provisions of the Civil Registration Act, 2004, the time of birth is part of the schedule of particulars to be registered in the register of births.
Prior to the introduction of the schedule, the time of birth was only entered in the Register of Births in the case of a multiple birth i.e. twins, triplets etc. Where information on the time of birth is not registered, the hospital or nursing home where the birth occurred may still have records of the actual time of birth.

The way I read this is that it is not necessarily law but common practice

Sallysmum

[Ecneps]

It is possible to check for twins by looking for identical or consecutive GRO references in the indexes"

Have you managed to find two children in the same quarter with same volume and page numbers?

Barbara

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

The time will only be entered if the informant gave the details and the registrar recorded them.

There are instances where times are not entered on a cert relating to multiple births and there are instances where a registrar recorded the time of birth when only one child was born.

As often what should happen and what actually happens can be worlds apart.


The reason the time should be recorded is because (in part at least) for inheritance purposes, the oldest child may only be a minute or two older but in legal terms a minute is as good as a decade for inheritance purposes.


The usual clue from the bmd index is to find two entries in the same quarter and district with either consecutive or identical page numbers, but only the certs will prove conclusively that two children share the same parents.

[kerryb]

I have birth certificates for a set of twins born 1876 and they do indeed show the time of birth.  There was 15 minutes between births.

Kerry

[mrs_tease]

yes, 2 girls registered at the same time,same page etc. On the certificate I have it shows the birth was at 5-20am at home, it wasn't until I read about registering times, that I went back and checked. There is also a death registered for the 2nd girl in the next quarter.

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

I think the death registration you mention lends more strength to a mutiple birth occuring, several times either one or both of the assorted twins in my tree failed to survive.

Although you don't mention where and when i notice you have Lincolnshire rellies, the majority of my twin births are Lincoln and around 1905-1930, i have a dozen birth certs and 10 show a time, two don't, it's the date, place of birth and parents that prove the children are twins.

One set i can't say either way as i went for the death certs instead but again the address proves the connection as it matches another set of twins born 15 months before.