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While checking a birth in 1972 I found that it was listed twice .First entry was typed and had the number 5B 1018 the second was entered by hand at the bottom of the page 5B 28547/S

Does that mean that the child was adopted ?

thanks

Kathy

hi kathy,
9 times out of 10,it means the child was adopted,or there was a mistake on the first registration.
regards
barbara

Barbara

Thanks for your reply
cheers
Kathy

Hello Kathy,

Whilst I am not entirely familiar with the indexing process at the General Register Office, I have to say that I disagree and do not think it likely that the person was adopted.

I am a registrar and one of the principles of the public indexes is that a degree of confidentiality is kept about adoptions. Adoption queries would then be channelled through the Adopted Children's Register held at GRO rather than anyone (the adopted person, the adoptees or any third party) being able to put two and two together from the indexes.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this from a genealogical research point of view, I have never known an adopted entry to appear in the main series of GRO births.

You can order a birth entry shown in the main GRO birth index and it will state on the full certificate whether or not that person has been adopted. But it will not in itself show a link to the adopted name or adoption details.

There are a tiny number of cases where either the registrar or the informant made an error and a replacement birth entry was made. I do not know whether the GRO index would list both or whether it would replace the incorrect entry with the later one.

What I do know, and suspect answers your question, is that a lot of births (particularly modern births) are re-registered. Further details appear on the GRO website, but basically the original entry is superseded usually in two circumstances;

1. If the father of an illegitimate child was not present to be named on the original birth entry then he can be added later on a replacement entry.

2. Also, regardless of which surname the child was originally registered under, if the parents marry each other after the child's birth then they are wise to re-register the birth.

In both cases, a new entry is created, a new index entry is created, the original entry still exists but has a marginal note to say that it is outdated because the birth has been re-registered.

The newest entry may be dated some considerable time after the birth, but the words "on the authority of the Registrar General" after the registration date points to the fact that a re-registration has taken place.

Further details appear on the GRO website. Re-registration began in the 20th century, so it does not effect what most of us would class as the historic entries.

I hope this helps !!

Regards,
Jeff

I was very interested in Jeff's viewpoint and as I have a relative who was adopted I decided to check the index.
I can confirm that the adoption(have cert) does not appear against the original entry.

I'm no expert, and have no evidence to hand, but I think the way a late registration was dealt with was to index the actual registration in the later period, and to add a hand-written note to the foot of the relevant page of the alphabetical index for the quarter in which the birth took place.

This may point to a late registration for the 1972 birth?

Jeff is right. I do transcribing for FreeBMD and we often come across hand-written additions where mistakes have been made. I am transcribing 1920's
Births and I should think there is an addition on 1 out of 3 pages.

Jennifer

Interesting....my two elder children were adopted by my present husband, and both their births have a hand written entry at the bottom of the page.

Hello Sue C,

This is turning into quite an interesting debate isn't it?! Can you clarify please, the handwritten entry on your children's births - are you referring to an entry on their certificates / register entry or are you referring to an entry on the indexes page?

Many people forget that adoption can be by a natural parent and a step-parent. It is good that you have pointed it out.

Rutland Belle and Ivy also make good points about handwritten additions to the index. There is a lot of pressure from organisations and researchers to produce the indexes as soon as possible, within months of the end of the quarter. Late registrations do occur and sometimes have to be added in later to indexes already printed. That would not explain two entries in the same quarter for the same birth, but is still worth bearing in mind.

Regards,
Jeff

Hi Jeff,

The hand written entries to which I refer are on the GRO index pages and are as follows....

Their original names plus my maiden name and a new reference number.

Nothing that actually mentions adoption. So.... although there can be several reasons for these hand written additions, adoption can't be ruled out.

Sue

It will probably mean that the original entry has got the wrong info on it and the S in the reference meens that the new details can be found in the September quarter of the index

Roy

Not too sure about that Roy. My above children have a similar hanwritten entry to the one that Kathy first mentioned. Same vol number, new (presumably page number) then/ S.

They were born 1969 and 1971, but were not adopted until 1980.

Sue

I have 2 adopted relatives. Both their births on the GRO indexes have hand written new ref numbers beside them. There are several on the same page and all have the new number then /S.

I dont think that its referring to the September qt since the births are in the Dec qt.

I haven't come across any records as described by Sue. What I usually get is the name and reg district then See J'29 which means that for some reason the birth was not registered till June Q 1929 and can be found there but should have been registered in the quarter I am currently transcribing eg 1921. So if you search for someone knowing they were born about 1921 this addition will send you to the page where ther birth was registered.

Hope you can follow that!!

Sometimes you get an addition at the bottom to a name that is already written with a ref to another page and this usuaully means that there was a mistake or an addition made to the original registration and so the birth has been re-registered

Jennifer

Thank you all for your replies

A later adoption might be what happened in the case I mentioned as the father was killed in a car crash and the mother probably remarried .

Jeff thanks for the long explaination .I worked for many years at GRO but was always in the morbid section - marriages !!!

Kathy

Jennifer,

When did "official" adoptions take place and when were the records for them noted on the indexes do you know?

Maybe not in the earlier years that you are transcribing?

I would be very interested to know what this /S means. Feel sure it must have something to do with adoption and may have been added in later years.

Sue

Sue, I don't know the answer to that but I know someone who might.
There has been an 'Adopted Chidren's Register' since 1927. It is not open to the general public.

Jennifer

Could the ?S be for the shorter certificate
I dont know when that form was first avaiable, but one of my children has a short birth certificate

Offical Adoption came into force 1927,,,,,,,,,in these earlier birth indexes there is no indication or amendents to birth GRO indexes that show .....it was in 1960 that any indication that adoption or name alteration shows in the GRO indexes,,,

an adoption or name change will show the entry number for the adoptee in the Adopted Children Register,,,followed by--/S or /A.against the original birth GRO index,,,,,,

So can be altered by name change marriages,,ie mother gets married and formal adoption takes place by the new partner,,,,

Lindsay might be right. This is from the GRO web site:

The Adopted Children Register is a record of all adoptions granted by courts in England and Wales since 1927.

When a court issues an adoption order a new birth entry is made in the Adopted Children Register. This replaces the original birth entry. The order also instructs the General Register Office to ensure the original birth entry is marked ‘adopted’.

The entire process, which includes instructing the registrar who holds the original birth entry, may take up to six weeks. Once this process is completed adoptive parent(s) will receive a free short adoption certificate. To order more copies of full or short certificates, see Certificates.

The Adopted Children Register is not open to public inspection or search.

What if there is a mistake on the Court Order? What needs to be done?
The adoptive parent(s) must contact the Court that dealt with the adoption and request an amended order. Without this a correct entry cannot be made in the Adopted Children Register