Odd birth certificate

[Perri]

I recently saw a family name in search that made no sense. I sent for the birth cert and it is correct but the birth is stated as 1917 in the 'when and where' but the certificate is dated 1942 and is a true copy. What are the reasons this can happen
Any help would be appreciated
Perri

[danuslave]

Hi Perri

People have needed copies of birth certificates for all sorts of reasons, including claiming a pension or insurance policy.  I have seen copies specifically marked as being for such a purpose.

I'm sure there are lots of other reasons

Linda

[Perri]

Thanks Linda, This is a new cert I have and it is telling me the birth was registered in 1942 as it says it is a true copy. The birth is listed as being 1917. Can someone be registered as an adult if they were not registered as a baby ?

[avm228]

The most common reason for this sort of thing is that the birth was re-registered in the father's surname after the marriage of the parents, who were not married at the time of the original birth/registration.  Might that be the reason in your case?

[Billyblue]

  Can someone be registered as an adult if they were not registered as a baby ?

They may have been registered at birth under a different name, that is they were adopted as a teenager or adult for whatever reason and name changed and a new 'birth certificate' registered in the new name.  This happened once in my family.
Dawn M

[eadaoin]

one of my relatives wanted his birth cert in the Irish language version of his name - so he re-registered himself as a late registration.

eadaoin

[Elwyn Soutter]

I spoke to a Registrar in London some years ago who said that this sort of late registration was quite common at one time. Whatever the law said about registering births immediately, people didn't always bother. Especially if they were illegitimate, but sometimes for other reasons too. Some evidently just overlooked it, especially if you lived in a remote area far from the nearest registrar. He said this pattern changed in 1948 when child benefit was introduced. If the birth wasn't registered, you didn't get the money, so since then people have been much more meticulous about registering births, but prior to that clearly not every birth got registered.

[Jeuel]

Do you mean the date in the informant's column is 1942?  Because that is odd.

All the birth certificates I have say "Certified Copy of an entry of birth" at the top and at the bottom "Certified to be a true copy of an entry in the certified copy of a Register of Births in the District above mentioned".

A true copy just means the copy is accurate.

[Perri]

Hi thank you all for your answers the informant is the father and the statement says as per declaration dated 1941 and under when registered 1942  it also says by authority of register general