Genealogy Chat

Would a time on a birth cert only appear if twins had been born? Or was that usual practice years ago? Today I received a birth cert for a 1844 birth and under the date, it says 4 p.m. Just made me wonder if perhaps my relative might have been a twin. Can anyone advise please. Thanks

Hi Steph, I believe that your right in saying the time was only put on certs if twins were born. Debs x

It usually does mean twin ,BUT some registrars were more careful in what they recorded and went the whole hog with info. Did you get the GRO ref from Freebmd as you can click on the page & view all that were recorded on it,its poss too that one twin would be on one page & the other on the next page if the quota for the page had been used up

I a lot of scottish birth certificates with the time on and they were not twins. Snowdrops

Some registrars put the time on all certificates especially in the first few years. I have a couple in 1838 and 1842 with times, which were not twins.

It is usual to put time for twins but it is not unknown to be on a certificate for a single birth. Have a look at the other entries on the page of the index. I would expect twins to be registered together.

I have twins in 1867 and there are times on there.Annie

Thanks for your advice both. I looked on the list but - any maybe Im being dull - but if there was a twin, does that mean I would have to trawl through all the Lewis's born in that quarter? Or am I missing an easier way to do it! It doesnt help matters because the listings are handwritten and very difficult to read. Why does receiving a cert always bring more queries with it!

have you looked on freebmd

It could be twins,but not a certaintity,and twins are not forced to be registered on the index together, eg Ann Doe and Zacharia Doe may be twins but unless you see the same page number (or possible consecutive pages) it wouldn't be a gimme. Only way for certain is if you think there are twins look for same surname and district and similiar page numbers and order the certs. Glen

Just looked on free bmd and typed in surname only (Lewis) for same quarter and year and area as the one I have, and no others came up. I'm assuming from this that she wasnt a twin. Thanks to you all for your help and advice.

Steph BUT Freebmd is by no means complete,some years have <10% transcribed,always best to check via Ancestry (beta). For instance 1858 is less than 5% for jan,apr and oct qtr and 35% for july,give or take the 3% freebmd quote as a tolerance. Glen

1844 Jan and Oct =100% +/- 3% Apr = 15% +/- 3% July = 80% +/-3% Basically about three quarters complete. Glen