Fathers name on birth cert

JDERIC2017 · 17-08-2017 10:19pm #1

To get the fathers name on babies birth cert, would father have to be there when registering birth... in 1909. My grandfathers birth cert had his fathers name on bc (same name as my grandfather) but he never married my grandfathers mother... was watching who do you think you are uk edition with lulu, she was saying her relative had to be there when registering birth to be mentioned on bc, wondering was it the same in Dublin. Thanks

shanew · 18-08-2017 7:37am

I think the rule re father's names on registering illegitimate births was the same here.

Peregrinus · 18-08-2017 7:52am

I think the rule both in England and in Ireland was that in the case of a non-marital birth the father had to give his consent to being named as the father in the register of births. This might normally have been done by the father going along to the registrar's office and giving his consent in person at the time the birth was registered, but it's possible that a registrare would accept, e.g. consent given in writing.

pinkypinky · 18-08-2017 9:22am

But if a woman comes to register the birth of her child and says I'm Mrs So&So, would the registrar need to see a marriage certificate or would she just be believed?

If a woman was married, then her husband was presumed in law to be the father of all her children.

Peregrinus · 18-08-2017 9:25am

pinkypinky wrote: »

But if a woman comes to register the birth of her child and says I'm Mrs So&So, would the registrar need to see a marriage certificate or would she just be believed?

Since the same authority maintains the register of births and the register of marriages, if the registrar wants to check if you're married or not he doesn't need you to produce a marriage certificate; he can just look in his own register.

Hermy · 18-08-2017 11:15am

But wouldn't a person presenting before the registrar need something that proves that the information in the register pertains to them.

shanew · 18-08-2017 11:24am

dont think marriage cross-checks actually took place (other than in church records) or there was anything in the legislation regarding proof of ID. There were fines for false giving information but I've never heard of any being carried out, and yet there are quite a number of cases where the date of birth has obviously been fudged to avoid late registration fees..

pinkypinky · 18-08-2017 12:08pm

So that case, it would only be a problem if a man did not want to be named on a birth cert and the woman went ahead and named him anyway (regardless of their marital status).

KildareFan · 18-08-2017 12:12pm

The person who registered the birth did not have to be the parent.

The informant was required to give the registrar their name, residence and qualification as in, father, mother, someone who was present at the birth, occupier or inmate of the hospital or house where the baby was born etc. This has led to mistakes on birth certs as the informant who is not the mother or father may not be aware of the mother's maiden name, spelling, if the parents were or were not married, where they lived, father's occupation, exact date of birth, etc.

JDERIC2017 · 18-08-2017 1:18pm

pinkypinky wrote: »

So that case, it would only be a problem if a man did not want to be named on a birth cert and the woman went ahead and named him anyway (regardless of their marital status).

That's what i am trying to prove, my great grandfather down living at where my grandfather lived when he was born and I know for a fact he didn't live there, maybe he wanted to be part of his son's life but wasn't allowed, still investigating his family to find out!!

Thanks all for your replies

tabbey · 20-08-2017 12:52am

Peregrinus wrote: »

Since the same authority maintains the register of births and the register of marriages, if the registrar wants to check if you're married or not he doesn't need you to produce a marriage certificate; he can just look in his own register.

The marriage may have been in a different dispensary district.

However if the woman's doctor was the registrar, he might have had some involvement in her ante-natal care, and be aware of her circumstances.

RGM · 21-08-2017 10:19am

KildareFan wrote: »

The person who registered the birth did not have to be the parent.

The informant was required to give the registrar their name, residence and qualification as in, father, mother, someone who was present at the birth, occupier or inmate of the hospital or house where the baby was born etc. This has led to mistakes on birth certs as the informant who is not the mother or father may not be aware of the mother's maiden name, spelling, if the parents were or were not married, where they lived, father's occupation, exact date of birth, etc.

This also led to a case in my family where the name of the child and the name of the father were switched. Took a long time to work that one out!

VirginiaB · 21-08-2017 9:27pm

I have an 1833 baptism where the names of the father and son appear to be reversed--my 2X and 3X great-grandfathers, parish of Kinnegad, Co Westmeath. Sorry for your trouble RGM, but I am glad to see that it can happen. Naturally it was the only record on the page where the mother's maiden name was omitted. It was their first child tho a number of others follow in the record with the correct order of names and the maiden name.

tabbey · 21-08-2017 9:29pm

RGM wrote: »

This also led to a case in my family where the name of the child and the name of the father were switched. Took a long time to work that one out!

I have a similar case where the father's name was given as both father and child. This caused a lot of time wasting as there was already a son with the same name,. Usually this means the first one was dead, but in fact he died a couple of years later. The new child was identified from the baptismal register, although there was a discrepancy of some weeks in the dates also.

Fathers name on birth cert

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