Have they just made a mistake........Or?

[Ruskie]

An interesting discussion - thanks for the explaination Stan.

(Wini - it is Cranford that is on the ABC on Sunday night  )

[Paul Caswell]

Still a little off-topic but I seem to remember reading that one good source of Irish data is through census returns that were submitted as evidence of age around this time.

Paul

[stanmapstone]

In the instructions to the Inland Revenue officers, the treasury stated that in Ireland relieving officers, rate collectors, and clerks of unions may also be in a position to give assistance on questions of age and means, and available census records may be made use of.

Stan

[Comosus]

If you think this programme is incorrect, don't watch The Tudors! I started watching it and got very confused. Apparently an American company got the rights to make it (so they're 1 series ahead of the UK). But more to the point, they decided that Henry VIII's sister should marry someone else. Thus meaning Mary Queen of Scots cannot exist! Needless to say, I stopped watching it after that.

Andrew

[kizmiaz]

Just to throw another idea into the discussion, the Society of Friends issued their own birth certificates way before 1837, so it may have been one of those!

I've seen Quaker birth certificates dated back to 1776 (see this post: http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,168291.msg796958.html#msg796958) so they did exist unofficially. Don't know how much further back they went though!

Glen

[GeoffE]

I have a Baptism Certificate for my Dad, written the month before he married (when he was 24).

It gives-
Alleged date of birth
When baptised
Child's Christian name
Parent's Names
Abode
Father's Occ
God Parents' names (blank)
Vicar's name
Date of issue
Clerk's name

(Printed by JB Shears and Sons, 64 Sydney Street, Chelsea SW3)

Also one for my Mum, again issued the month before marriage.  This was a Catholic one from another county.  It was printed by MH Gill and Son Ltd, Dublin.

[Headbanger Veron]

Non-conformists also issued birth certificates before 1837, I have one from 1826 issued by Dr William's Library which I understand used to register births for non-conformists in a bid to make them as "official" as the parish registers.

However - the one I have is small and square - the one in Lark Rise to Candleford definitely looked the conventional long shape. It would be interesting to see what is in Flora Thompson's original book, since she presumably remembered what had happened at the time! Incidentally Flora worked in the village post office from 1891 to 1897 -

http://www.visitnorthoxfordshire.com/site/areas-to-visit/towns-and-villages/fringford?gclid=CPeRvKmo7JgCFQ00Qwod7U2L1Q

Veron

[Hephzibah]

I recommend reading of 'My Ancestors were English Presbyterian/Unitarians' by Alan Ruston. Published by SOG: in it is an explaination of why Protestant Dissenters registered their childrens births at Dr Williams's Library.
The copy I have of a  form used to register a birth with Dr Williams's Library asks for the following details (in order!): (this particular form was completed in 1837 for a birth in 1803)
Name of Child
Daughter of (father's name)
Father's address
Wife's name
Father of Wife
Wife's father's address
Child born at the house of...
address
date of birth
The signatures or marks of two people present at the birth

My 3xgrandfather's birth in 1836 was registered at the local Baptist Meeting House along with the names of the Midwife & Nurse present at the birth.
Hephzibah

[Hephzibah]

Whoops, forgot to mention, in the above book it states that the register at Dr Williams's Library was started in 1742. When Civil Registration commenced in 1837 the register consisted of nearly 49,000 birth entries, which was handed over to the Register General. They are now in the National Archives.
A sleepy Hephzibah!