George Martin, Islington, London 1858/9-1941

[jjaney]

massive brick wall, I wonder if anyone might be able to help please?

have not been able to find a birth certificate for my great grandfather, george martin. I have every available record going back to 1878, including his army attestation papers.

am desperately wanting to find his birth record or a census of 1871, or 1861.
 
d.o.b. is c.1858/9 Islington, London
his army papers show he had an older brother, William, but do not mention any other siblings.
his father is shown as John William Martin, occupation shipmate, on his marriage certificate.

Over several years, I have sent off for all the birth certificates for the name george, covering a period of about five years either side of his birth date, and including all the various districts of Islington such as Finsbury, Clerkenwell etc. All to no avail, apart from one dated 1865, mentioning father as John, occupation gardener (mother, sarah nee biggs).

I know sometimes second or middle names get used instead of first names, which adds to my confusion or could the above record be the right one, surely registration could not have taken place six years late?

I have not started a separate search yet for william's birth certificate as I have no accurate date, only that he was older.
I have also checked the 1851,61,and 71 census for the address given on the 1865 certificate, but no Martins living there or in nearby streets.

In conclusion, the nearest matches I can see for all three names are from the LDS website which mentions a John Martin as father to a william, a john and a george, between the years 1852 - 1859 in separate listings at old church, Pancras, all with the same mother's name of Sarah, but no maiden name.

Tricky?  my roots may remain hidden perhaps.

[dawnsh]

Before 1875, the onus on birth registrations was on the registrar going around his district recording the events. In the early days of registartion a number of births weren't officialy recorded by the registars, the family relying on baptisms as the evidence they needed.

After 1875 the onus was put onto the parents making them responsible for registering the births of their children.

It is unknown how many births slipped through the net. If you have purchased several certs and none are relevant, I would suggest there may not be an entry to find.

Dawn

[jjaney]

thank you for your information, dawn, I wasn't aware of that. I see how this could be one reason why there are sometimes inconsistencies with birth dates, as baptisms sometimes took place some months or years after a birth.

jenny