General Chat

hi there
can anyone help im searching both ancestry and free bmd for some births
on free bmd it gives the month and year but when looking on ancestry the year is the same but the month is completely different (hope that makes sense)

the only other thing with ancestry it gives the full date of birth
hope someone can help

thanks kirsten

Freebmd gives just the quarter in which the event was registered, so for example a birth between December and March may show as March.

Freebmd gives a quarter and a year. The quarters are Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec.

E.g. a birth registered in Jan/Feb/Mar 1901 will appear as Mar 1901 as it is in the Mar quarter.

It is this quarter and year plus the district, volume and page number that you need when ordering a cert from the GRO.

Later births (talking 1970s onwards I think) are registered in a month rather than a quarter, however these are unlikely to be on freebmd.

I don't believe Ancestry gives a date of birth on a birth reference, unless this is on a parish record of a christening when sometimes dob are given.

If you are still stuck why not post the details of the birth you are tryingt o find and someone else will look.

In answer to your question on accuracy, then the most accurate source is the GRO index itself rather than a transcription, you can see this on freebmd by clicking on the "pair of specs" next to the name you want. You can do this on Ancestry, assuming you are a paid up member, by clicking on view image.

thank you!!!
now it makes sense lol

at least now i can fill in peoples proper birthdates now

kirsten

helen you are right they dont give the full birthdate on ancestry on the birth records but ive been lucky when i have looked up a death record as the birthdate is on there


this is where i was getting confused because the birthdate on the death record and the birthdate on bmd the months were wrong
now i know on bmd it is done by quarters i should now be able to fill in the gaps

thank you for your help
it is appreciated very much

Kirsten

if you only have the GRO ref i.e. quarter, year, district, vol and page then you won't have a "proper birth date". You will only get this from a birth certificate, a death certificate (although in this case it is only as accurate as the informant's knowledge) or a baptism record that includes the date of birth.

Remember that births registered in the Mar quarter, could have actually happened at the end of the previous year, as parents had 6 weeks (I think) to register the birth, i.e. a birth at the end of November 1900 may not have been registered until the Mar quarter of 1901.

Hope this helps.

Helen

thank you helen
your information helps a great deal
why i ever started tracing my family tree i do not know lol (im blaming my grandmother and the fact im nosey lol

kirsten