GRO birth registration contains comment "Occasional Copy: A". What does it mean?

[AntonyMMM]

To clarify ....Occasional Copy does mean that a copy of the register entry was submitted to GRO outside of the usual quarterly returns process. This almost always will be due to some sort of correction, or change, to the register entry.

In such cases there is no "original copy" to order, because the register entry itself has been changed, and any certificate issued will always reflect that change ( but it should be clear what the change has been). Just order as normal.

This is quite different to a re-registration where there will be more than one entry relating to the same birth, sometimes months or years apart ( which therefore have completely different references), and for which you can order certificates from either entry and they will be different.

Thanks for the link. I read it. It may apply to my case. I am looking at a birth registration for a person (say Ann Smith) who has different details on the GRO and on FreeBMD. The birth year is 1929. On the GRO her MMN is given as - (a hyphen). On FreeBMD her MMN is given as Smith (ie. the same as the child).

It is quite normal to find different results when searching on the old paper indexes, as used on FreeBMD, and the newer GRO on-line index, because they use different indexing rules.

Where there was no maiden shown on a birth entry, the old paper indexes, from 1911, just repeated the mother's surname in the maiden name column. In the same circumstances, the new GRO index (correctly) leaves the maiden name field blank.

[Elastik]

Thanks very much for these helpful explanations. I have indeed ordered a copy!

[arthurk]

Resurrecting an old thread rather than starting a new one, I've just come across my first Occasional Copy: A.

The birth in question was a Frederick Thomas Hunter, registered in the Bradford district in Sep qtr 1857. I was searching with just surnames (Hunter + mmn Haining), plus the quarter and volume number (9b), and he came up with the reference 9b 124, Occasional Copy: A.

However, when I removed the mmn from the search, another entry appeared showing the mmn incorrectly spelled as Hanning, and the reference 9b 123. (This is the reference found at FreeBMD, but I couldn't see any mention of the Occasional Copy on the image they have of the original index page.) This misspelling was evidently the reason behind the correction.

I don't know if I was just lucky, but I was able to work out what had happened without paying a thing. It might work for others too - certainly worth trying.

[Chris Doran]

Re-resurrecting an old thread: I've just come across this on an "Occasional" death re-registration. Mary Elizabeth (Bessie) Boxall (1877-1939) has her middle name changed to Isobel. That's all you see on the GRO site, but FreeBMD has alternative entries with initials E and I. All the documents I can see from birth right up to probate use Elizabeth or Bessie. Her mother's first name was Isabella, which must have been the source of the mix-up, but I wonder why anyone went to the trouble of changing Elizabeth's entry apart, of course, from the prime objective of confusing future genealogists So the moral is: don't eschew FreeBMD in favour of GRO and do investigate "occasionals".

I'm not related; I just came across this whilst creating her Find a Grave memorial from a newspaper listing with middle initial E.

[Deirdre784]

Presumably it’s only minor changes made for an occasional copy to appear?

Just i’m helping a friend who has her grandmother’s original birth certificate (1914) ….. she was ‘adopted’ and i’ve just found an entry in her new name and registration district. My friend knows the details of the adopted parents but i didn’t expect there to be a second entry (presumably with incorrect details). Not available as a digital image but I have suggested my friend buys the pdf.

[AntonyMMM]

Presumably it’s only minor changes made for an occasional copy to appear?

Just i’m helping a friend who has her grandmother’s original birth certificate (1914) ….. she was ‘adopted’ and i’ve just found an entry in her new name and registration district. My friend knows the details of the adopted parents but i didn’t expect there to be a second entry (presumably with incorrect details). Not available as a digital image but I have suggested my friend buys the pdf.

Occasional copies can be for any type of later correction to an existing entry - could be something very minor, to a very significant correction.

If you have found a second entry then that isn't an occasional copy, but could be a re-registration, or something else. If this was an adoption (pre 1926) then the adoptive parents shouldn't have registered the birth as their own, and if they did it was perjury.

If you want to post the name, or send me the details by DM I can advise further.

[Deirdre784]

Thanks Antony - will DM you. Won't solve the main puzzle - finding the birth mother - but i'm trying to explore all options.