Baptism Lookup Please Colne or Bluntisham

[jayed2]

Hi
I am looking for a birth of a Charles ?Chandler born in Dec 1860 or Jan 1861 In Colne.
There is no birth showing on the BMD Index.
I think he was the illigitimate son of either Betsey, Elleanor or Mary Chandler.
In the 1860 census he was 2 months old and living in Bluntisham
So either was baptised in Colne or Bluntisham
Many thanks for your help
Jaye

[bedfordshire boy]

Bluntisham baptisms have been extracted onto the IGI, but there's no sign of a baptism. Colne parish register hasn't been filmed by the LDS so doesn't appear on either the IGI or BVRI, nor is a transcript available from Hunts FHS. It's available though at Huntingdon records office - if you can't get there they run a reasonably priced research service.

Just looked at them on the 1861 census and find that his grandmother, Hephzibah (Hedge) Chandler was my 3xg great aunt; her elder brother Moses was my 3xg grandfather. Shout if you need any information on the Hedges. I haven't researched Hephzibah's children or grandchildren.

David

[jayed2]

Many thanks David
I just wonder if he had another name. But obviously cant get his birth cert as have no other information.
Many thanks for the tip on the records office
Regards Jaye

[bedfordshire boy]

Birth registration wasn't obligatory until 1874. I think it's probably a case that his birth wasn't registered

[davidft]

Birth registration wasn't obligatory until 1874. I think it's probably a case that his birth wasn't registered

I would disagree with that. birth registration was obligatory its just that in the period 1837 - 1874 the onus was on the registrar to seek out all the births and record them. At the time parents could be fined for not answering the registrars questions. The 1874 Act changed the onus to the parents to register the birth with penalties for late or non registration

[bedfordshire boy]

Which sentence do you disagree with? Presumably the first.

What you say is legally accurate, and what I wrote was legally inaccurate. But the fact remains that the parents were not penalised by law for failing to register a birth until 1874, so before that date some births went unregistered (many went unregistered in the early years of civil registration)

[plusmore]

Just possible that they may have been associated with the Baptist church in Bluntisham in which case there will be no record of a baptism as children are dedicated instead. These records haven't been kept and it wouldn't have been until adulthood that a baptism would have taken place.