Genealogy Chat

Martin - how would I go about getting his army records, would I need to know which regiment he served with? Thanks for your help, Annette

It is not unusual for a different place to be given as the place of birth on each census especially if it is shown as the same as all the others in the family. His date and place of birth will be on his army records - I found my Taid's details from his WWI military record. MB

Was he in the navy as I downloaded my uncles WW1 info from National Archives and it did have his date and place of birth on it.

Nell, The registration district is Wigan. Prescot is approx. 15 miles from Wigan and about 18 miles from Atherton. The family I mentioned before lived in the West Leigh area (not far from Atherton) in the 1891 and in Wigan for the 1901 census. Annette

I don;t think there is a reg district for Atherton, so I don't see how you have worked out that he was born there? Which reg district is the ref you've found and how far away is it from Prescot? nell

Thanks to all who replied... Georgina - his name was John Baron (very common!) and I think he was born on 9/11/1888. He died in May 1954 aged 65yrs. Ted - thats a very good point, his father, Thomas was a coal miner. The 5 children of the family I mentioned from the census records were all born in different parts of Lancashire - Burnley, Atherton, Leigh and Croft (near Warrington). Annette

Annette, hi. you say he was brought up in PRESCOT, well he might not have been born there, and those places you mention arent all that far away. being brought up usually mean he remembers living in PRESCOT . there was a lot of coal mining around that area and also a lot of work in Prescot, particularly file making and watch making. TED. XXX

Annette what was his name and when was he born? Georgina.

The best thing you can do is risk it and send off for the birth certificate. There is no way you can 'verify'it. If as you say the censuses concur with the majority of the information you have it could possibly the right one. Is Prescot anywhere near the other places mentioned? I don't know the area. If you know his fathers name from his marriage cert and mothers (from censuses) this can be confirmed by the birth cert. Sometimes you just have to take the plunge. Did you get the GRO ref from ancestry free images? Did you find any others of the same name around the same time? If he was the only one your chances of it being the right one are very high. Go for it!! Good luck Kat

I think I have found my Grandad's birth record but .... We aren't sure where he was born; he mentioned being brought up near Prescot - although the record I have found would mean he was born in Atherton, Lancs and brought up in Atherton, Leigh and Wigan. I have his marriage cert, Father's name, names of 3 of his sisters and have matched this info to census records in 1881, 1891 and 1901 - all of which match with the birth record. I also know he served through the duration of WW1 and wondered if I could trace his DOB through his army records - does anyone know if this is possible? I would appreciate any suggestions! Annette