Can anyone do a GRO lookup to confirm correct certificate?

Question

I have a mystery child in Wilfred Baldwin, b. 1881, North Yorkshire. He came to Canada in 1882 with his family. Apparently his father is William Baldwin and his mother might be William's second wife, Marie Annie Thompson. William's first wife died in July of 1880.

The 1901 census gives his birthdate as 18 March 1881. 

I have a couple of possibilities in the GRO index:

Thompson

Wilfred

Helmsley

9d

461

(Jun 1882)

BALDWIN

Thomas Wilfrid

Halifax

9a

450

(Dec 1881)

BALDWIN

Willie

Halifax

9a

502 (Sep 1881)

 

I am more inclined to think he was registered as a Baldwin. I tried to get the Thompson record a number of years ago and some info did not match so it wasn't sent. The location was correct though.

Can anyone do a lookup and see if one of these is the correct record?

Thanks,

Dawn

Comments

The GRO offer electronic ( ie pdf ) copies for £7 each now. It’s free to search on their site, but you have to register first. When you find the one you want, there is a button to click to order it. This avoids possible typo errors.

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/Login.asp

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Is there any extra information on the certificates that you can't see on the search?

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There are some extra things;

Place of birth can be an actual address, but sometimes is just the district. Or a hospital. Time of birth is given for twins.

Father’s rank or profession is given.

Signature and residence of informant is given.

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Thank you - that's really helpful.

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I am trying (have been trying on 3 email addresses) to register. ARRRGH!!!

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If the birth is illegitimate father's details are usually completely blank though occupation might be filled in.

Sometimes the child is given a middle name that looks like a surname. For married couples this can be the mother's maiden name. For illigitimate children this could be a clue to the father since the registrar can't stop the mother doing this.

Father's name and occupation also appear on wedding certificates. I have found a case where I suspect the bride just gave the first name and let the priest assume she was legitimate and put down her surname as the father's surname. He was a deceased farmer which explains why he wasn't at the wedding. (Actually still living.)

Answer 1

9D 461 has no MMN
9A 450 has a MMN of Foot
9A 502 has a MMN of Gath

Hope this helps

Comments

I found the family in England on the 1881 census, which was taken on 3 April 1881 and he isn't on it, so the birth date of March 1881 may be incorrect. The 1891 and 1911 Canadian censuses give his birth year as 1882.

This adds weight to the top one being the correct record, with the child being born illegitimately to the servant, Maria Ann Thompson.

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Thank you Gillian, Yes, that helps. Where did you find that so fast?

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https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp and Familysearch for the censuses.

N.B. On the census of 1881, the family were living in Helmsley district.

Answer 2

The district nails it anyway.  Halifax would be very unlikely.

When ordering a cert from the GRO by index ref, the trick to make sure you get it, is to give only the index ref - name, district, volume, page, nothing else.

If you add any more details, that says, don't send it if these details don't match.   But the details on the cert often don't match what you're expecting.