Genealogy Chat

I have a birth certificate where the fathers name has been added then crossed out. Is this common practice?

I've never come across that. Does the father have the same surname as the mother? I know that a married woman's husaband was generally assumed to be the father of her children. If she wanted the name of a man who was not her husband on the birth cert, she needed the man to come with her to the register office. nell

I haven't seen it on any of mine (and I've got quite a few) It might be that he his deceased - does it say anything after his name? Usually though if he is deceased it will have (dec.)

Well, of course you don't know WHO crossed it out - if it was the Registrar, I am quite sure that he would have annotated the certificate in some way. He could not alter the certificate after it had left his office, for instance, if the father turned up and said 'I'm not the father, I want my name taken off the certificate' - too late, Mum had gone home with the certificate. Was it perhaps a family member, long after the event? Might be interesting to send for the cert again and see what it says - if the Register was altered AFTER the first cert was issued, because of doubts about the parentage, then a request for the certificate should show this. Olde Crone

The mother might have been asked for the father's name and she just gave it, then perhaps the registrar realised that she wasn't married to him, so crossed the name out. You weren't allowed to put the father's name without him being there if you weren't married to him. If the child WAS illegitimate, then it is a really good clue as to who the father was. If the child wasn't illegitimate, then I don't know why the name was crossed out. Kath. x

Yes, I have seen a certificate with the father's name on it, which has then been crossed out and a number reference added by the registrar (presumably). The crossing out has not been very effective though and the father's name is still clearly visible!! Perhaps the registrar had some sympathy with the mother and complied with the rule not to put an unmarried father's name onto the cert but did not feel the need to cross it out properly. This was a recently obtained cert from the GRO, by the way - not a private family one. The date is 1892. Anne

If a father named on a certificate objected because he suspected he may not actually be the father the certificate could be amended,there have been cases where a couple would attend to register a birth,and the 'father' who presented himself to the registrar was in fact a 'stooge' claiming to be someone else. Mind you this was very early in civil registration. Glen

Glen But my point was, how would the Registrar physically make the mother return to the Office with the Certificate, so that the father's name could be crossed out? See what I'm getting at? Olde Crone

thats interesting Glen as I have a birth with the fathers name on although the parents werent married, and I often wonder whether he really did go to the register office with the mother as I was told he had deserted her at the altar, and so who was the man who said he was the father hummm