Marriage cert year different in GRO index

[Alexander.]

I'm puzzled by this, can anyone explain this?

I have a copy of my great grandparents original marriage certificate. The year given on the certificate is 1920, written clearly in three spots. At the bottom it says "Witness my Hand this 24th Day of December 1920" indicating this certificate was written on the day of the event (though the 0 does look a little smudged).

Just out of interest, I checked for them in the GRO index, and I was surprised to find this:
Marriages Dec qtr. 1921
Fellows, Francis W., Aston, vol. 6d: 853
Johnson, Doris A., Aston, vol. 6d: 853

But how can the marriage certificate and the GRO index be a full year different? Which is the correct year?

[crisane]

When was their first child born?  That could be one reason the certificate may have been changed.

[Alexander.]

First child not born until mid June 1922. Do you think the certificate has been changed?

[billramp]

It was not uncommon for certificates from a local Registrar's Office for a particular quarter to be 'lost in transit' to the GRO.......I suppose then if these turn up at a later date or are resent then there could be an error in the recording of the date for the index.  Also the local Registrar's office indexed marriages by Church and not Surname....unlike the GRO

[crisane]

The original scan on FreeBMD has it as 1921 and it is in the middle of the page not added down the bottom by hand so looks as if the 1921 is correct.
If the first child was born June 1922 then if they married in Dec 1921 the bride was pregnant at marriage. This would have been a reason for one of the parents to change the date of marriage. (My mum changed her birthdate on her birth cert because she was 3 years older than dad) 
The 0's on your cert look thicker and bolder than the other numbers and the bottom one looks very messy doesn't it?

[Alexander.]

Looking closely at the age column, both should have been 21 years old if married in 1921. I think you're right, all the 21's have been changed to 20's, including the ages! Didn't notice that before. If you look closely the 0's, they do look a bit flat on one side. And there's a bit of a large space between each 2 and 0.

Doris & Francis very nearly tricked me! Thanks.

[dawnsh]

You could write to the local register office and give the names, place of marriage and dates and ask them to confirm the year as the certificate you have is 'illegible'

Dawn

[kathyw75]

Or send for a copy of the certificate using the GRO reference, and compare their copy with yours.

[Alexander.]

I will try your suggestion, Dawn. Failing that I might track down the parish marriage record, since I know of course what church they were married at. That should contain the same info.

I do feel quite confident now that all the 1s have been changed to 0s. Interestingly this is one of the only original certificates to be passed down in my family...so someone obviously wanted the marriage to go down in history as 1920 not 1921. They probably thought that nobody would bother checking if they had this certificate...well they were nearly right.