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Thanks mgnv and lancashire ann
It is really looking like the Thomas Ribchester who died in Durham 1873 is our Thomas.

The certificates office have offered to do a check on the deaths in Lancashire for me just in case some records maybe missing etc.

John Ribchester (father) was the one who registered the birth for John Anselon Ribchester.

and I assume you have this?

Marriage: 2 Feb 1820 St Chad, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England
John Ribchester - (X), Husbandman of this Parish
Alice Winstanley - (X), Spinster of this Parish
Witness: James Morginson; John Fairclough
Married by Banns by: R. Bowness Curate
Register: Marriages 1813 - 1834, Page 67, Entry 200
Source: LDS Film 1526408

I know this is not what you were asking. You say his birth certificate says he was John not Thomas. I wonder if whoever registered him got mixewd up as his brother John was still alive

Lancashire Birth indexes for the years: 1838
Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference
RIBCHESTER John Preston Preston WINSTANLEY PRES/3/74

Lancashire Birth indexes for the years: 1843
Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference
RIBCHESTER John Anselon Preston Preston WINSTANLEY PRES/23/22

Lancashire Death indexes for the years: 1845
Surname Forename(s) Age Sub-District Registers At Reference
RIBCHESTER John 7 Preston Preston PRES/24/42

1841 census

John Rebchester 45 -watchmas at mill (flour)
Alise Rebchester 45
Elizabeth Rebchester 20
Catherine Rebchester 15
Mary Rebchester 15
James Rebchester 14
Ann Rebchester 13
Alice Rebchester 11
Ellen Rebchester 9
John Rebchester 3


all children up to John born in Thornton (John working / previously worked at Thornton Mill???)

When a birth or death is rego'ed, usually the informant goes to the local register's office and gives the details, then signs the register.
At the end of the quarter, the local register makes a copy of all that quarter's events, and sends them to his district superintendent who gathers the copies from his various local registrars together,checks them over, and bundles them up and ships them off to the GRO - formerly in London, but moved within the last 50 y to Southport.
So, apart from a few weeks, there's always 2 copies of these records.
The same would apply for rego office marrs, but for CofE marrs, the local church kept the original register, and copies were made for the local office and the GRO at the end of each quarter.
After 1898, non-conformist churchs were authorized to keep official marr rego's (RCs only from 1980ish on).
When a rego was filled, the local registrar sent it off to his district superintendent.
Church rego's were deposited in some archive, usually the county records office.

I think the only case where all/the sole copy of BMD records were lost occurred in the Channel Islands under German occupation (so not really in the UK).
I read abt this over 50y ago, so the details are hazy, but German solders were billeted in the local archives, and started using registers as heating fuel during a coal shortage. Their officer found out within a week, and stopped that.

Anyways, generally speaking, their are 2 or more copies of English BMDs.
The local copy may be indexed - see http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/local_bmd for what's online.
NB Ulverston (and Lancs in Furness) comes under Cumbria, note no births indexed for Ulverston.

The GRO index is transcribed at http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
Ancestry use the FreeBMD transcription thru 1915 - there are some incomplete quarters here, viz:
Deaths Dec 1844 (99%) *
Deaths Sep 1879 (99%) *
Deaths Dec 1879 (99%) *
You can try looking up any name on the page, and checking the image to see your guy is/isn't there.
If needs be, you can always use the klunky "view images" link on their homepage to see any page image, transcribed or not, thru 1983.


Just for ref - here's the FreeBMD look ups:
Marriages Sep 1864 (>99%)
Ribchester Thomas Anslemn Preston 8e 667

Births Jun 1865 (>99%)
Ribchester Margaret Ulverston 8E 666

Births Sep 1866 (>99%)
Ribchester John Ulverstone 8e 636

Births Sep 1868 (>99%)
RIPCHESTER Isabella Annie Blackburn 8e 309
[note misspelling]

Deaths Dec 1868 (>99%)
Ribchester Margaret 3 Preston 8e 348

Deaths Mar 1871 (>99%)
Ribchester Isabella 2 Preston 8e 429

Deaths Jun 1873 (>99%)
Ribchester Thomas 29 Sunderland 10a 329


and their local counterparts:
Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1864
Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference
RIBCHESTER Thomas Anslemn DONALDSON Mary Preston Register Office or Registrar Attended Preston PRESTON/39/110

Lancashire Birth indexes for the years: 1868
Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference
RIBCHESTER Isabella Annie Mellor Preston DONALDSON M/8/5

Lancashire Death indexes for the years: 1868
Surname Forename(s) Age Sub-District Registers At Reference
RIBCHESTER Margaret 3 Preston Preston PRES/130/84

Lancashire Death indexes for the years: 1871
Surname Forename(s) Age Sub-District Registers At Reference
RIBCHESTER Isabella 2 Broughton Preston BRO/10/54

Surname Forename(s) Year of Death
RIBCHESTER Thomas 1873 BoR*
[BoR=Book of Remembrance, pointed to April 3, but I didn't see an entry for him - entries all too recent]

Thankyou lancashireAnn

just click on the 'post date' at the top of the thread

The genes site has changed since I last used it, can someone tell me how to get the last post to the top of the page so I don't have to keep scrolling down to see my last reply

I've emailed the certificates office regarding any possible gaps in death records/registrations.

Mike, Ive found that the Preston Cemetery has all the Burial Records on microfiche at the records office not practical for me however been given a list of people willing to search for me for a small fee.

Have found this site:
www.cemsearch.co.uk/preston/preston.html - Cached
Preston Old Cemetery Records - Burial Records - Inscriptions, Preston Cemetery
Lancashire England UK. A useful tool for family tree research.
There are apparently 5 graves for Ribchester's 16 with Ribchester surname 4 with other surname which I get as a total of 20 people however it is saying a total of 24 people, apart from that it appears the cost is 6pound could someone have a look and let me know if this site should be used, sorry but I'm very caution of giving bank details and payments over the internet, has anyone used this site before that may be able to give some advice. I'm pretty sure it would be 6 pound for all the information however a little confused as to whether it would be 6 pound per person.

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 01772 794585

I've had a reply from the LRO regarding death registrations for the Preston area they have suggested I email the certificates office to be fully sure that there are no gaps in the records. I need to get Isabella's death certificate so will do this at the same time. The other suggestion is to check the burial registers for Preston Cemetery which in my case is not practical. Unfortunately these registers have not been name indexed.

Who registered this death?

Lancashire Death indexes for the years: 1871
Surname Forename(s) Age Sub-District Registers At Reference
RIBCHESTER Isabella 2 Broughton Preston BRO/10/54

Unfortunately, it was before the census was taken, but there should be an address on the cert

The BMD records would not have been stored in the same place as the census, so it would seem very unlikely that any would have been lost etc.........

The 1871 census for Dawdon records the man as unmarried.......although that is not necessarily significant. If he'd abandoned his wife and child, he would try to cover it up. And his second name was fairly unusual, so he may have omitted to mention it.

Reggie,
Sorry for the delay in replying to you, I was half way through typing in the details and the phone rang when I got back to the computer in my haste I forgot I hadn't submitted the info, so here goes again.

Death Certificate Info
Reg. Dist. Sunderland
Sub Reg. Dist South Bishop Wearmouth
County: Durham
1. 3rd April 1873 at The Infirmary
2. Thomas Ribchester
3. Male
4. Age 29
5. Occ: Colliery Stoker
6. Cause: aneurism certified
7. Informant: Hannah Frater in attendance Cornhill Southwick
8. Registered 7th April 1873

My concerns regarding this certificate being a record of my Thomas Anslemn Richester, firstly no initial for middle name, occupation - please note our Thomas was a Schoolmaster/Teacher, our family as far as we know have no connection yet found to Durham.

We have found a Thomas Kibchester on the 1871 Census living in the Easington District of County Durham it looks to be an obvious spelling or transcription error and I'm sure it's supposed to be Ribchester, he is a lodger in the household of Mary Irwin and his occupation is Theatrical, I suppose this would be acceptable or plausible him being a schoolmaster/teacher that he went into the Theatre as a performer, however two years later on his death his occupation is a Colliery Stoker. I suppose one does what one had to in those times to make ends meet, it just doesn't ring true with me though.

The Cemetery Registers for Sunderland District obtained on line from Durham Records on line are:
Record Number 414464.12
Location: Bishopwearmouth
Cemetery: Bishopwearmouth Cemetery
Denomination: Any
8 April 1873 Thomas Ribchester of Hawthorn ( a village in East Durham between Seaham and Easington ) occupation, Fireman, died at the Infirmary.

As you can see some things fit and others don't so I have a niggling feeling about this, hence my enquiry as to whether its possible some death records/registrations may have been lost, damaged, destroyed for the Preston area in Lancashire along with some parts of the 1871 Census for that area.

Hi Mike
Yes, and Yes this is my ancestor and yes he was Alice's son according to the birth certificate.

Is this him in 1851 ? ( Ribchester on Original )

John Tibchester 57 - Chipping
Alice Tibchester 53
Catherine Tibchester 28
Ellen Tibchester 19
Thomas A Tibchester 7
Ann Tibchester 22
Martha Tibchester 10 Mo - Gd daughter
William Myerscough 29 -son in law
Mary Myerscough 26 - daughter
Alice Myerscough 1 - Gd daughter
Alice Poulton 10 - servant




Was he really Alice's son ? ... she would have been 46

Lancashire Birth indexes for the years: 1843
RIBCHESTER John Anselon- Preston Preston - WINSTANLEY


from a tree on Ancestry ....

Thomas A Ribchester
Birth abt 1843 in Preston, Lancashire, England
Death Apr 1873 in Durham, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom

Could you give the details from the death cert which you say is in your possession, please.

"I have death certificate for an ancestor " etc.........

Hi Reggie

Not sure how to reply to your answer, I'm mainly trying to save genes members from covering what I have searched for the 100th time and wasting their time.
But, if your keen my ancestor is Thomas Anslemn Ribchester, however his birth certificate gives his registered name as John Anslem Ribchester, we know from Census that Thomas Anslem is what he was known as from the 1851 Census onwards, there is no doubt whatsoever that I have the wrong family. He married Mary Donaldson in 1864 at St Walburgh Preston, they had 3 children, Margaret 1865-1868, John 1866-1947 my GGrandfather, Isabella Annie 1868-1871. Apparently the Census records for the Preston 1871 area that we need were damaged and unfortunately that information is not available to us. No record found on the 1881 Census for Thomas or Mary, we know from Census that John b.1866 lived and was brought up by Mary's sister Flora and her husband. We have found no trace of a death for Thomas except for the one in Sunderland, Durham which could be a match but I'm not convinced yet without further research. Hence the post for information on possibly some death records being damaged or destroyed. Not proved yet, but we think Mary Ribchester his wife (nee Donaldson) remarried in 1874 and had children from this marriage but never had her son John from her marriage to Thomas live with her again. Have also not been able to find a death for Mary so am tending to think she had this second marriage. Certificates will of course confirm, however I'm trying to make sure if any death records may have been destroyed or damaged along with the 1871 Census for the Preston area.

Thanks Mike - will do that