Genealogy Chat

I have three certs, all for the same marriage. One from the GRO, one from the local RO and one is a photocopy of the church register entry. All three are different! Fathers names have been transposed, addresses of the bride and groom have been transposed (partly) and the GRO copy gives my 2 x GGM's age at marriage as 89!! (She was 39). OC

My own marriage details are wrong. Indeed both our names are mispelled at the GRO. We only found out last year when I couldn't find our marriage on the GRO index in the place where it should have been. The mistake came about because both our names are slightly unusual, and the Minister's handwriting was not that clear. We have the original Certificate and on looking at it, with hindsight, It was easy to see now how the mistake was made The GRO have now corrected the error in both the register and on the index, but you won't find us on Ancestry unless I tell you were to look.....!

I keep telling people this, but here goes again: There are an estimated one million errors on GRO certificates! I would check the marriage in the register, to see what is written there. I suppose people did sometimes spot that their marriage cert was wrong but didnt think it mattered - until it did! Maybe a legacy from a relative or an Insurance claim? OC

See if you can look at the actual register that your chap signed.... It may be that he didn't sign it 'wrongly'. The more times the information is copied, the more chance for human error. I have a lovely collection of certificates with 'wrong' information, although they are for the correct people. eg. I have a bride's father named as Janet ( should be James, his daughter, the bride was Janet) My great grandfather's name has been abbreviated and the first 3 letters left off, on his son's marriage cert. etc. It would be a simple thing for the clerk to copy the wrong signature. The actual book might hold the answer. Gwyn

The marriage was 1922 and it was corrected in 1924. As I said it's strange that Ernest signed his own name Bullows. I've got the ref for his birth and his fathers so will order certs.

I have ancestors with the name Hallas - on censuses it changes between Hallas, Hallows and Hallers. This is also true with some of the births of their children - one registered as Hallas, another two years earlier as Hallows. I guess its just a mix up of people hearing the wrong thing and people not knowing to correct them etc. Especially if you grew up thinking you spelt your name one way only to find out it was totally different!

If it was altered much later, perhaps it was due to an application for pension entitlement for both he and his wife? If you hadn't got, or couldn't produce, your b cert, you had to get a copy of your bp entry from the church. Perhaps this was in the other name (if parents couldn't read or write, mistakes were made) and to verify it was the same person, perhaps they applied to have the marriage cert ammended to prove the links in the chain. If parents couldn't read (did they sign the marriage cert or mark?) Edward may have been recorded as Bullows at school and been taught to write his name with that spelling. Jay

thanks, problem is Ernest signed the marriage cert as Bullows. so if he knew his name was Bullers and went to the trouble of geeting the cert changed how would have made a mistake?

Have you actually got his signature as BULLOWS or is it a copy? My grandfather's name is spelt wrong on his marriage certificate and I feel sure that he would have signed in his usual way. The fact that his own father's name is wrong makes me think that it was very poorly copied from the church register. Perhaps something similar happened to your family. The surname could have been mis heard and then corrected. UPDATE I've just seen that there was quite a time delay in correcting the cert. He was registered at birth as BULLERS and changed the cert. so that it read that name in 1924. Perhaps that's when they happened to check it, for some reason. Gwyn

One theory is his name was misheard as Bullows, depending on the accent I guess. Or they got fed up of it being misheard and changed it to Bullows sort of thing.

Am a bit confused as to why one of my ancestors changed his name. I got the marriage cert today which reads (1922) Ernest Thomas Charles Bullows (the Bullows being underlined) aged 19 father Ernest Bullows Down the side is handwritten is in col 2 for Bullows read Bullers otherwise Bullows.in col 7 for father Ernest Bullows read Ernest George Bullers.corrected on the 18th June 1924 in the prescenc of E.T.C Bullers Alice Bullers. Ernest signed the Marriage cert Bullows so why would he decide to have it changed? I've found Ernest's birth ref Name: Ernest Thomas C Bullers Year of Registration: 1904 Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep DISTRICT: Walsall County: Staffordshire Volume: 6b Page: 775 and one of their childrens birth cert has surname Bullers so where does the Bullows come in?

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