Dates Of Birth in the 1939 Register.

[Stephen49.]

I have noticed on many occasions the date of birth in the 1939 Register is different to the dates of birth for the same person from other sources. The difference maybe a few days, a different month or in some cases a different year. I'm not always sure which source I should believe. Any thoughts and or advice would be much appreciated.

 

[PhilGee]

I don't think there is an answer to this - I go with whichever variant I am most comfortable with I have twins (consecutive entries on the Wiltshire birth index) where the first registered has 11 May 1891 on both the 1939 register and the death index; her brother has 11 May 1890 on the 1939 register and 13 May 1891 on the death index. Their deaths were close as well: 9 Jul 1975 in Christchurch (certificate) and 3 Jul 1975 in Meifod (probate) respectively.

 

[Helen7]

I have noticed on many occasions the date of birth in the 1939 Register is different to the dates of birth for the same person from other sources. The difference maybe a few days, a different month or in some cases a different year. I'm not always sure which source I should believe. Any thoughts and or advice would be much appreciated.

I have come across these sorts of discrepancies very often. Differences in year are usually easily sorted out by looking at the birth registration. Differences of a few days are less easily resolved without other information. My father's birthdate is just one day out in the 1939 register - 8th of month instead of 9th.

As the 1939 register was compiled in a hurry, I expect errors like this were inevitable. I agree with Phil, you need to take all the other evidence into account in deciding the correct birthdate.

 

[Stephen49.]

I don't think there is an answer to this - I go with whichever variant I am most comfortable with I have twins (consecutive entries on the Wiltshire birth index) where the first registered has 11 May 1891 on both the 1939 register and the death index; her brother has 11 May 1890 on the 1939 register and 13 May 1891 on the death index. Their deaths were close as well: 9 Jul 1975 in Christchurch (certificate) and 3 Jul 1975 in Meifod (probate) respectively.

Many thanks for your words of encouragement. I wasn't sure whether people favoured one way or the other. As you said, there's no right or wrong answer. This might be one of those hazards we have to turn a blind eye to. Once again many thanks.

 

[Stephen49.]

I have come across these sorts of discrepancies very often. Differences in year are usually easily sorted out by looking at the birth registration. Differences of a few days are less easily resolved without other information. My father's birthdate is just one day out in the 1939 register - 8th of month instead of 9th.

As the 1939 register was compiled in a hurry, I expect errors like this were inevitable. I agree with Phil, you need to take all the other evidence into account in deciding the correct birthdate.

Thank you very much. I wondered if one way carried more weight, but without birth certificates, it looks like six of one and half a dozen of the other. Thank you.

 

[Katie Bee]

My father's cousin was staying when the 1939 register was taken. He and my mother were both born in December and their birthdays are both wrong.
The month and years are correct, but the day of birth has been mixed up.
There can be all sorts of discepancies, intentional or not.

 

[Stephen49.]

Thank you for sharing your family info'. Needless to say the surest way would be to buy the birth certificates. The price of certificates in England are so that I can barely afford to buy one, let alone the dozens I want to buy . Sometimes we are lucky because the baptisms sometimes show not only the date of baptism but also the date of birth. There some blessings albeit few and far between. Thank you.

 

[peter]

It's possible that in some cases the 1939 Register is right, and the birth register wrong - occasionally birthdates were falsified to avoid a fine for late registration.

When the discrepancy is only one day this might possibly indicate that the birth occurred around midnight. This hypothesis could be verified using Scottish birth entries, which include the time of birth.

 

[Helen7]

When the discrepancy is only one day this might possibly indicate that the birth occurred around midnight.

Well, my father's birth certificate says 9th Nov and we always celebrated his birthday on the 9th, so he would hardly have given his birthdate to the enumerator as the 8th, whether he was born around midnight or not. He was living alone so his details must have come from him. At least they spelt his name right (often misspelt) and got his occupation right - I suppose a day out on his birthdate is neither here nor there.

 

[Stephen49.]

It's possible that in some cases the 1939 Register is right, and the birth register wrong - occasionally birthdates were falsified to avoid a fine for late registration.

When the discrepancy is only one day this might possibly indicate that the birth occurred around midnight. This hypothesis could be verified using Scottish birth entries, which include the time of birth.

Thank you, I hadn't thought of that. I think it would be interesting to know if fines for late registration were or have ever been enforced, not only but also how much was the fine in the first place. One other point is, during the 19th century did delivery rooms, be they in a hospital, a nursing home for mothers-to-be or else where, have a clock or time piece to know whether it was before or after midnight? Many thanks.

 

[peter]

Well, my father's birth certificate says 9th Nov and we always celebrated his birthday on the 9th, so he would hardly have given his birthdate to the enumerator as the 8th, whether he was born around midnight or not. He was living alone so his details must have come from him. At least they spelt his name right (often misspelt) and got his occupation right - I suppose a day out on his birthdate is neither here nor there.

If he was living on his own he would have filled in the form himself.

I think it would be interesting to know if fines for late registration were or have ever been enforced, not only but also how much was the fine in the first place.

I can't remember how much it was, but it was a significant amount.

One other point is, during the 19th century did delivery rooms, be they in a hospital, a nursing home for mothers-to-be or else where, have a clock or time piece to know whether it was before or after midnight?

Almost all births occurred at home, and this continued well into the 20th century.

 

[Helen7]

If he was living on his own he would have filled in the form himself.

Yes I realise that, but we don't get to see the original forms filled in by the householders, so I assume the error arose on copying from the householders' forms to the summary sheet. Maybe my dad's 9 looked like an 8.

 

[jorghes]

I have noticed on many occasions the date of birth in the 1939 Register is different to the dates of birth for the same person from other sources.

And sometimes, people blatantly lied about their age on every form they possibly could. I have an example of a lady who by 1939 had knocked her age down by 15 years (gave her birth year as 1888 in the 1939 Register when it was actually 1873). But then she had been doing that on Censuses for a while too.
She unfortunately died during the Blitz, and the age given at her death was the one that was 15 years younger...

 

[peter]

If he was living on his own he would have filled in the form himself.

Yes I realise that

Of course, but a lot of other people reading this discussion wouldn't know. There are still many family historians who think that 1911 was the first census when members of the public filled in forms!

 

[Stephen49.]

Needless to say, there's always the possibility that some member of the community didn't know or couldn't remember their date of birth, when the 1939 Register was taken.

 

[peter]

Needless to say, there's always the possibility that some member of the community didn't know or couldn't remember their date of birth, when the 1939 Register was taken.

However it's far more likely that they weren't around when the schedule was being filled in, and that it was the head of household who couldn't remember the date.

For example, according to the 1939 Register two married twins in my family tree were born a month apart - quite a failure of memory considering their birthday was only 12 days before registration day! Incidentally, the twin living with her husband was recorded with the correct birthdate - it was the widowed twin living with her brothers who was accorded the wrong birthdate.

On the other hand, this could be another instance of a '9' being misread as an '8'.