1911 census - dead children

[NigelBurch]

Having purchased the pages for some direct ancestors in the new 1911 census, the family were surprised to discover that it contains a section for number of children born to the family and of those how many had died and this has uncovered some dead siblings born to my grandmother's family that even she may not have known ever existed.
My question is this - did the census rules state that these included any stillborn children or would these have been children that lived long enough to be baptised (and died between censuses)?  Should I check baptism records in the parish archives or go straight to burial records?  Were stillborn children ever baptised prior to burial?
Thanks

[ankerdine]

Hi Nigel


I've subsequently found some of my "dead" children by searching freeBMD. At least I know the quarter and year when they died.

Judy

[stanmapstone]

Sadly Still born children were born dead and could not be baptised.

Stan

[stanmapstone]

The formal registration of stillbirths only began on 1 July 1927.

Stan

[NigelBurch]

Thanks Judy Thanks Stan

Judy - I've already had a quick look at the BMD though the surname is quite common and in London and the BMD does not narrow it down to parishes so I guess I'll have to trawl through the parish records.
Thanks Stan - at least that suggests that I should go straight to burial records first and see if that states their age at death so then if they were a few months to a few years old then I can work back and get their baptism records.

Thanks for your help
Nigel

[Comosus]

The 1911 census states that it should only include children born alive. Although there are probably cases where this isn't the case as it's ultimately down to the interpretation of whoever filled the form out. For example on the 1841 census ages over 15 were supposed to be rounded down to the nearest 5. However I have a few cases where they've been listed with their exact age.

[stanmapstone]

There seems to have been a lot of misunderstanding of what was required, as in some cases apparently dead children have been entered by name in the census. I have a Charles Edward Mapston birth reg. Mar ¼1898 Petworth, death reg. Jun ¼ 1898 Petworth, who is not in the 1901 Census, but appears, with the family, in the 1911 Census born 1898. There is no doubt who his parents are, the Mapstons are a very small group of people, and there is only the one family in Petworth from 1895.

Stan 

[NigelBurch]

Thanks all - it's all valuable information.
As you say, it was all open to interpretation especially as this was the first time that the householder had completed this information - there were bound to be different yardsticks used

[Sloe Gin]

Yes, and many people have a tendency to jump straight in without reading things properly, whether it be an official form, assembly instructions for something, and many other examples.  I doubt our ancestors were any different!