[Garlinge]

I have had no luck finding an Irish birth record for a lady who ended up in UK and where she died in 1984. She is in the 1939 register but we think was not married to the man she was living with and whose surname she used and gave to her only child. I cannot find any marriage record for them either in UK or Ireland or of him to anyone else.

The only hard information is her date of birth in 1907 and christian names. But no joy with searching the Irish birth records and filtering for that date/name.

She never returned to Ireland. I wonder what was done with birth records of mother and baby homes of the time? Were all births registered by the institutions? And so many adopted out, were they give a copy of some form of a birth certificate? Was it not a legal requirement for subsequent marriage?

[spurious]

Hospitals, like the Rotunda for example, registered many of their births without first names, so 'unknown Murphy'. I suppose you could trawl through everything looking for a date match, but to be honest a surname is more useful than a first name, if you only have one or the other.

[Garlinge]

That was worth a shot, thanks. Actually there were 13 'unknowns' birth registrations for two days in Jan 1907. There are two suggested surnames ( no corroboration) but neither came up. A pity as with the 1911 census soon after, some progress might have been possible.

I used the 'more search options' to enter an exact date of birth.

[pinkypinky]

I wouldn't use the exact DOB. People in that era might not have been so precise.

I've personally known several people (born in the 1920s) who celebrated their birthday all their life on a day that was not on their official birth cert.

[Garlinge]

Yes but this person was alive up to 1984 and reared her grandchild and she put a date of birth on 1939 census. But her grandson put one day later on her death cert! So I searched around that date. He sorted her estate etc and the absence of any records was significant. The family has no idea what part of Ireland she came from hence my search.
My great gran was born Dec 31st 1859 but celebrated her birthday Jan 1st to get into the new decade!

[clog]

If she was living in Ireland in 1911 you could look for her on the 1911 census.

I hope her name was not Mary Murphy for your sake.

[Garlinge]

Yes that was my hope but evaporating and probably not old enough to appear in next UK census to be released that of 1921 ( due early 2022) and of course none done in Ireland in 1921. The Uk 1931 census did not survive WW2 bomb damage.

[Lime Tree Farm]

Originally Posted by pinkypinky

I wouldn't use the exact DOB. People in that era might not have been so precise.

I've personally known several people (born in the 1920s) who celebrated their birthday all their life on a day that was not on their official birth cert.

The reason being that there was fine for late registration. My great grandfather was fined for registering my grandmother's birth outside the 3 months deadline.
It is worth checking the date on which the birth was actually registered (recorded on the right hand side of the register).

That's why some babies seem to to be baptised before they were born.

[pinkypinky]

Yes, that's right.

[Garlinge]

Too many imponderables.... perhaps she took few yrs off her age or added some when seeking new life in UK. The present exposure of deaths in mother and baby homes made me think of whether those births were registered correctly if at all. I also had a set of twins born to a relative in 1880's but was never able to find a record. One did not survive birth and the other died shortly after according to family lore. So would they have had to pay to register a birth then a death or perhaps neither despite legal requirement?

[pinkypinky]

You only had to pay a fine if you were late, it didn't cost anything normally speaking.

Very common in the first 20 years to find infants who died young were not registered at all.