Genealogy Chat

my husband was born in ww2 his birth was registered then and a cert issued, you had to have one to start work maybe its a copy for then,

Modern short birth certificates are slightly smaller than A5 paper, but I have an Aunt's from 1940 that was approx 4inch by 4inch, but there no childs name only male/ female and birth / stillbirth as if it's a recipt of registration, her full certificate was issued in 1947

Judith As far as I know all birth certs are copies, as the register office keeps the original. I do have a short cert belonging to my husband's grandfather. It says CERTIFICATE OF BIRTH at the top and has the date of birth as Eighteenth February 1894. It then says 'Certified to have been compiled from records in he custody of the Registrar General. Given at the General Register Office, Somerset House...the 18th day of September 1953' so it is obviously issued 1953 and not 1894. My own short birth cert says the same thing, but the date it was issued is about 22 days after my birth, when I was registered. nell

thanks thats possibly the answer it is only a small one. Not a large one. It isn't however stamped with anything about pensions or work. All the copies I've had to date (large ones) state that they are 'certified copies of an entry of birth'. My mum's cert say 'certificate of birth'. Its larger than the small ones issued in the early 1900's but about half the size of a full cert today.

I think a lot of people had certificates issued when they started work for the first time, possibly because their parents couldn't afford to buy the certificate at the time of birth. I have also seen a couple issued to relatives when they became pensionable age. Kath. x

If it is the original long certificate issued at the time of registration, the date in column 8 will be the same as the date at the bottom of the certificate. If it is the short form it will not tell you if it is the original issued at the time of registration or a copy issued at a later date. (I've just looked at the short (obtained at age 15 in 1948) and long version (obtained 2001) of my fathers birth certificate.

Is it a full sized certificate with all the details, or just a small one with just her name and no parents details? My mother in law (born during WW1) only ever could remember having a small certificate, which was issued when she started work, but I was able to obtain a full size copy recently for her. Her son, my brother in law, was born in 1942 and has a full certificate. My grandmother's certificate (small one) is stamped for pension purposes only (or similar wording). Sue

I know that my mum's parents were never evacuated not indeed blitzed. My Nan was a methodical lady and I wondered whether during the war effort and subsequent paper shortage people were encouraged not to apply for paper copies of a birth. The certificate issued in 1954 appears to be an original and not a copy certificate. The birth was registered in 1939.

Is the certificate issued in 1954 a copy of the original, which may have been lost due to wartime damage? Many people were blitzed out of their homes or just fled from the war damaged areas, and doubt if rescuing a birth certificate would have been very high on people's priorities during these dangerous and difficult times. I certainly have a copy of my sister's Birth Certificate, registered in 1944, within the six weeks of birth, but my copy shows date of issue in 2003, which was the date I asked for a copy from the GRO. Janet.

Birth certificate were issued in the 1st world war as I have a 1917 copy of a 1903 birth certificate, WW2 should have boon the same. Alomg the top it stated: This Certificate is not available for purposes of Secondary Education CERTIFIED COPy of an ENTRY of BIRTH (Issued for the purpose of the Factiory and Workshop Act,1901) The boy named on the certificate would have been 14 when the copy was issues and likly to have been taking an apprentiship somewhere that required the certificate

When you say her birth cert wasn't issued, do you mean registered? The birth SHOULD have been registered within 6 weeks of its happening. I think wartime was no different. Although there were no births in my family, my uncle who died aged 15 at hospital was registered as usual. Certs were issued whenever anyone applied for them. My father's birth cert is one that was issued when he started work and needed it for insurance purposes, but his birth was registered a few weeks after it happened. nell

my mother was born 2 days after the outbreak of world war 2. Her birth certificate wasnt issued until 1954! Was this usual during the austere times? Would she have need the cert when she was 15 to leave school? any ideas?