Genealogy Chat

Looking through the proverbial black box, I found birth certificates for both my parents. They were obtained a week apart, in April 1950. This was several years before they met. Can anyone suggest why they obtained copies?

Could they have needed them for starting work? My Dad only had a shortened certificate dated about the time he started work.

My grandparents got them when they started work - my grandfather's is requested by his first employer - but my parents had both been working for several years, and the same black box has my father's original birth certificate. Most peculiar.

....probably for proof of age, in respect of a claim for either..pension, NHS contribution/exemption or some other request from some other Gov't dept for duplicated information... even as simple as a request for ID proof. Bob, Devils advocate.

Could be something to do with the end of rationing? Just a guess. Anne

Perhaps it was something to do with National Insurance then.

You don't say how old they were, Brenda. Usual reasons would be starting a job, getting a passport. Did you need one to open a bank account??? nell

My parents were different ages, born in different months and living in different counties. I can't think that the whole country was applying for birth certificates at the same time. The only solution that occurs to me is taking out life insurance, but I wasn't aware that my father ever did this.

hubbys nan has a copy of hers, so she could make a claim for unemployment to a co-op. Even has the amount stamped on the back

Of course your mother and father could have got the certs for different reasons, though it is an odd coincidence. To apply for a driving licence? nell

I think I'm going to have to do a little more rummaging in that box. It has, amongst other things, my father's provisional driving licence (1961 - he was a late starter) and a picture of my brother in bootees. I've always concentrated on the early details, as I thought I knew the recent stuff. I very nearly got a copy of Dad's birth certificate recently as I couldn't remember ever seeing it. That would have meant THREE copies in the house!

Did they get Passports? They would have needed a Birth cert. for that, and in the 50's we were just starting to be really daring and taking trips abroad!! We had only just got over rationing, didn't have much money and it was a real adventure even to contemplate going abroad. Jane

I found a copy of my fathers (he is still alive and kicking at 91 this year). It had been obtained for him to attend school! In 1950, wasnt the National Health Service being set up?

From what I understand a birth cert was reguired when you left school and went to the Dept of Employment for a National Insurance number .............if the date on them is July or August 1950 this could be a probable explanation

Just rang dad - he says you had to get one to start your first job, he thinks. Would that tie in age wise, Brenda?

The mystery is as deep as ever. But, I've found P45s, P60s and even payslips dating back to the 1940s, all crammed into a manilla envelope little more than 5cm square.

The NHS was set up in 1948. Although I found a site which has info about how it was structured, the state of medical provision, lists of deaths by various diseases etc. I can't find one about how people got their NHS number. http://www.nhshistory.net/index.html

Oh yes I can!!! 'The history of the NHS Number The need to introduce an NHS number for all patients came as a result of the National Health Service Act which came into force on the 5th July 1948. Under the act doctors were paid per capita for all persons registered with them. Keeping track of patient movements, deaths, enlistments in H.M. Forces or for those leaving the United Kingdom, the Registrar General consented to the use of the National Register to monitor this activity. Central National Registration Office started to notify Executive Councils of exits from national registration by forwarding to them the medical or identity cards of deceased persons and the identity cards of persons who enlisted or left the country. In cases where no medical or identity cards were available notification was made by forms E.C.20 specially constructed for the purpose. The job was a major undertaking and the procedure extremely complex. The operation was successful and from its inception in July 1948 up to the end of the [calendar] year 432,598 identity cards, 18,706 medical cards and 11,415 forms E.C.20 were despatched to Executive Councils.' nell

Brenda I've just thought - they both wanted to trace their family history - this interest brought them together and they passed it on to you through their genes. nell

Nice one Nell!