Genealogy Chat

Did you have to pay to register a Birth, Death or Marriage, or only if you wanted a copy of the certificate as I find it hard to understand why so many of my lot did not have any in their possessions when they died

You would automatically get a certificate, its your proof that you have registered an event. But years ago, people didn't need certificates - they didn't need to open bank accounts, or apply for passports. They wouldn't necessarily have kept them. I think it was easier not to register things before 1875 - then they tightened up the registration laws. But not all certs copies got to the GRO, so if you can't find what you want in the GRO index, its worth checking with the relevant local register office. nell

didnt think of that ,you are right as usual thanks a lot.

hi Alan thats what I wondered did they actually pay to register the event or pay for a copy of the cert

I think short certs were cheaper, but you still had to pay. Not sure though. nell

Hi I have an original birth cert from 1880. No stamps on it but.... plasters - to hold it together!!! Penny

I hasten to add, I don't KNOW the answer to your question, but MAYBE even if you didn't have to pay to make the registration, but did have to pay if you wanted the cert, maybe there would be an element of humiliation that you couldn't afford the cert so it was easier not to bother with the registration at all??? (I mean before 1875). Also I understand the percentage of people who didn't register births was much higher amongst unmarried mums - again I would imagine there was the humiliation factor again - stating ''father unknown'' makes you sould as if you have been sleeping around! I expect the vast majority knew exactly who the father was, it was just getting him to the reg office that was the tricky bit! Merry PS - I sometimes wish I'd never started too!!

I have 2 original short birth certs, 1898 & 1903. No indication on either that a fee was paid. No Stamp. For a while up to ?mid 1900's I believe stamp duty was payable (on top of the statutory fee) for producing a full certificate. This was certainly the case in 1924 when my grandfather got a copy of his full birth certificate when he married my gran. The certificate has a seal of a stamp, but on some documents you actually had a postage stamp stuck on. The blurb at the top says 'two shillings and sixpence' for a copy of a certificate; searches were £1, a lot of money in 1924.

I reckon thats why my lot dont have any certs because they were so poor imagine having to buy at least 15 thats how many kids my nan had she was so poor the kids had to go to the fish market every day at 4am to get fish heads and stuff to eat, so she was hardly going to be paying for birth certs was she??

In my family it is only the boys who usually have a full birth certificate with the paid stamps on - including my own. My sister and my mum both had to make do with a basic short certificate, though I think even they had to be pais for, just not as much, hence why the parents only usually pay for a full certificate for any male heirs rather than girls, especially if money is tight. Sexist maybe, but generally true. Michael

I found a cert of my grandfathers in an old family bible. never seen one like it before. Instead of the writting going from left to wright it goes from top to bottom, it's grey in colour and says issued for the purposes of the factory and workshop act, 1901, it was issued inn 1907 my grandad would have been 13 so i think he would have got it to start work with.I wonder if he would have had to pay for that. Gill

My Mum asked me the question only yesterday why didn't they keep their certificates. I answered by saying that I think they had rather more important things to deal with like getting food on the table! Pippa

A few months ago, an aunt aged 85, told me that she had never had a birth cert. Her parents were so poor, they could only afford the 'certificate of registration' which gave the name and date of birth and cost I think 1/-. She showed it to me and it was a flimsy bit of paper. I sent for her birth cert, and she was thrilled Anne

how lovely Anne , its funny an Aunt of mine applied for her Birth Cert as she needed a passport and was shocked when she received it to discover her Birth date wasnt the date she had been told and always celebrated and her parents were'nt married. She is very confused over this.

I would think that quite a lot of certificates from that time might have just been shoved in a drawer and fallen to bits!! With the number of children that people had, filing was probably a bit of a low priority. I recently found my dad's birth certificate (from 1914) and it is in dozens of pieces. Perhaps others suffered the same fate?

My mother, born in 1932, had a small, scrappy birth certificate that didn't even have her forenames on it - just 'female' and the relevant surname, dates etc.. She went through her life thinking that her parents didn't even have a name for her. When she applied for a passport in her 60s, needless to say they wouldn't accept her birth certificate, and she had to apply for a new one. I've looked her up on 1837, and she is there, with both her forenames, in 1932. So I suspect that her parents couldn't afford a full certificate at the time

Lesley I didnt realise thats what they got in those days, I always had a short cert which had my full name on , how awful for her ,she must have felt unwanted.

That's exactly how she felt, especially as she was the middle child of nine. One of the most amazing things about researching my family has been discovering and putting to rights, if you like, some misconceptions. My father thought that he hadn't been registered until he was 6 years old - he assumed his parents couldn't be bothered. What actually happened was that his mother was only 17 when she had him, and when she married his father, six years later, he was re-registered and took his fathers' surname. I found his original birth registration and the re-registration. At the age of almost 80, he was really pleased to think that his father went to that trouble to make him legitimate. No-one had bothered to explain what had happened... Makes you wonder what misconceptions we are all carrying around in our own family baggage. I am coming to realize that parents do the best that they can with what resources they have at the time.