Genealogy Chat

My cousin has an idea that her father was a twin but the twin was stillborn. She hasn't got her fathers birth certificate which I've told her to order. Will it have a time on it - he was born in 1914? Debby

i'd imagine so (but i'm not an expert)

Debbie, Not an expert either - but I've got certs for twins and they have times on. Regs Jane

Possibly, but as the only survivor, he would be considered a single birth. Stillbirths weren't registered until 1927. You will have to get the cert to be sure. nell

It might have the time on it, but the stillbirth wouldn't be registered as it was before 1927 when they started to register stillbirths. Kath. x

Know this is awful but what would they have done with the body - weren't they sometimes buried with someone else? Debby

I dont know when they started putting times on for twins..but i too have teins and it states the time. One of my family certs from a long time back had the time on..i phoned concerned registry office and they said the registrar at the time put times on all the births he entered. Someone would know when it started officiallly. Shame you cant find the info on free bmd. But if you know when he was born you could look on 1837 online for an entry. They would be together. Best wishes Lynn

I know this is awful too, but I think the body may just have been disposed of (?) - not sure how. Kath. x

Lynn, The stillbirth won't be on 1837online, as a stillbirth isn't a 'birth'. Kath. x

Debby I think I've found the answer: If there is a time against the date of birth then there was more than one child born alive at the birth. ************ If however a mother had twins, one liveborn and one stillborn, then the live born twin will not have a time against the birth.******************* Until 1926 there were no registrations at all of a still born child. Having said that, again the early registrations are not consistent. The registrar in the Eton district did not put the times of births of twins in the registers at all until 1845 while the one in Stoke-on-Trent put times against all the registrations up until about 1850. It is possible to check for twins by looking for identical or consecutive GRO references in the indexes. - from the excellent http://home*clara*net/dixons/Certificates/births*htm#COL1 replace * with .

So if there's no time on my uncles cert we will never know for sure because stillbirths weren't recorded. That's a shame Debby

Oh I see Nell - our last threads clashed! So if the baby survived just a few minutes, it would be recorded. Are births for 1919 on Freebmd? I've no 1837 credits left. Debby

If the child took a breath then it would not be a stillbirth, and a birth would or at least should, have been recorded, and also a subsequent death. My Mother in law is a surviving twin, born 1928 her twin brother was stillborn. There is no time on her birth certificate. Debby, I'll check 1837 if you like, in your first post you said 1914, up above you say 1919, could you clarify Regards Sam