Birth - Significance of who registers a birth?

[Rowan Tree]

Hi All,

I'm wondering if there's any significance to who registers a babies birth.

I'm looking at my great-grandmother who had eight children. Six with her first husband and two after her first husband died during WWI.

Seven of the eight births are registered by the mother, Edith Annie MOORE nee MADDOCKS.

Sadly, the third born baby died at 1 month old and the fifth born baby died at 6 months old. Both deaths are registered by the mother.

What stands out is the one birth that ISN'T registered by the mother, and that birth just happens to be my grandad.

My grandad, Arthur Robert MOORE, was the sixth and final child of his parents. My grandad was born after his dad had been conscripted and sent to fight in WWI.

My great-grandad, also named Arthur Robert MOORE, was recorded on my grandad's birth certificate as Sapper no. 178150 no. 1 company Royal Engineers. Journeyman Stone Mason.

I don't know the date when my great-grandad was conscripted and thus, can't confirm he was present when my grandad was conceived. It seems certain that he'd been sent to fight in WWI by the time my grandad was born on the 13th December 1916.

By grandad's birth was registered on the 19th December by Florence E. Wells, present at the birth, 17 Brookfield Street, Newton. I've no idea who this person is. The name and address isn't connected to anyone else in my family tree.

My grandad was born at 7 School Street, Newton.

This is all particularly curious to me because DNA has shown that my mum, myself and my cousin aren't biological MOOREs. We're biologically descended from my grandad's mum, Edith Annie nee MADDOCKS, but we're not descended from the MOORE family.

Either Arthur Robert MOORE senior wasn't a biological MOORE himself, or he is a biological MOORE and he wasn't my grandad's real father.

Any theories or thoughts would gratefully be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,
Rowan Tree 

[Rowan Tree]

NOTE: The "Newton" on the birth certificate is present day Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside.

It was in Lancashire when my grandad was born.

It was sometimes referred to as Newton-in-Makerfield.

And just to confuse matters, my grandad's birth address of School Street is actually in Earlestown.

[goldie61]

Florence E Wells 'present at the birth' may have been a midwife?
Have you found her in the 1911 and 1921 Censues?

[Neale1961]

I wouldn't read too much into it.
She had just given birth (it may have been difficult, we don't know); she was caring for a large number of other children; she was running a household without the help of her husband who was away. She was probably exhausted.
A kind and helpful neighbour or the mid-wife registered the birth for her.

[LizzieL]

I was thinking the same. Florence is at same address in 1921 and 1939.

[Zaphod99]

That's a really interesting concept. I would guess that in most households it's done purely out of convenience.  Perhaps the mother is still suffering the after effects of birth, perhaps one member of the family routinely does administrative tasks, perhaps a member of the family was passing the register office on the way to work.  My uncle registered a new family member after a visit to the pub. He unfortunately got his new son's two carefully-chosen names the wrong way round.

Zaph

[LizzieL]

Florence Elizabeth Wells was the wife of Wilfred Wells. Her former name was Pearson. Might not be her maiden name but a previous married name.

Added
Her maiden name was Cave and she was born in Ipswich Suffolk. So doesn't look like she's any relation of the Moore family

[Rowan Tree]

Thank you all for your replies. It's much appreciated 

I wouldn't even be querying this if it wasn't for the fact that Arthur Robert Moore senior had several siblings (he was the eleventh of twelve children) and out the siblings who have descendants who've submitted their DNA to Ancestry, I'm not a match to any of them. Neither is my mum or my Moore cousin.

I've considered Florence E. Wells may have been a midwife or a friend. Women had both midwives and friends in 1916, obviously. I just don't know how often midwives or friends registered births. This is the only time I've encountered a birth in my tree where I don't know who the person is who registered the birth and the only time the person doing the registering isn't a relative.

When my great-grandmother had her final two children (1919 and 1921), after her husband had died, she was single and financially struggling but still registered the births of those children.

There might not be anything to discover or learn here. Florence may have simply been a friend, midwife, member of a local church helping women whose husband's were away at war and so on... It's just with the DNA (or lack thereof) and not knowing when exactly Arthur Robert senior was conscripted, it makes me particularly curious.

If anyone thinks of anything else, please don't hesitate to post. If I turn anything else up, I'll add it here.

Kind regards,
Rowan Tree 

[hanes teulu]

In the absence of a date of attestation I recall efforts in previous threads made to calculate a possible date or time period from the soldier number. But it is not an exact science.

For example, No 178019 appears against Sapper Robert W Gathergood attesting for the Royal Engineers, 6 June 1916, Regt or Corps 2nd R.B.R.E, place Norwich. I understand Nos. weren't allocated consecutively because of scattered recruitment depots? Nos. were possibly allocated in blocks so it is not possible to say with confidence that 178150 was issued after 178019.

Can someone confirm?