Genealogy Chat

I know who is allowed to register birth details,.

But does anyone know if an illigitimate childs 1950/60/70
birth can be registered in the fathers surname if the father is present at the registration.

Ie Jane Smith daughter of Ann Smith father John Brown can be registered as Jane Brown ( fictitious names)

Thank you for any replies.

Best wishes Maurice.

If the father is present at the registration then the answer is yes.

Thank you Astra muc appreciated.

Best wishes
Maurice.

If the father is present then both names go on the birth cert and can be found by searching either surname.
It will only be the one cert but can be found either way

It is only in more recent years....sorry I can't remember when...that a child's actual surname has been shown on a certificate.
Previously it would have been inferred by the father being named on the certificate.
With the 2 names of unmarried parents shown, it was up to the family which name became used as the surname.


Gwyn

As you will have gathered, the b.cert will show only Jane, d/o John Brown & Ann Smith.
The child's legal surname will be whatever the child's guardian chooses - Jane Jones is quite possible, but unlikely.

In the 1940/50's a number of both legitimate & illegitimate children were registered in either their father's or another man's name. Often the legitimate father had been KIA in WW2 before his child was born & another man registered the birth on behalf of the mother. Several of these men knew the mother prewar & used this means to coerce her into marriage. Unfortunately in some countries of the empire the registration dept's were inadequately staffed & little cross checking was done. The receipts for the rego's were just made out in the name requested by the registering person. Some children born then did not find out until they were getting married or applying for a passport when the full copy of the certificate was required, that the surname was not what both mother & child thought it was.

I found this out to both my mother's & my cost when I applied for a passport. Nice to know all my legal stuff until then was illegal! I had to go through the adult adoption process then so my actual parents were my legal parents even though my father was a WW2 casualty. The situation also caused complications when applying for my OAP
but I can now look back on it all as an interesting part of my life.

Shirley, Gwyn, MGNV and Pelo.

Thank you for your replies, i have just checked my threads this morning.

Very interesting that one Pelo.

Best wishes to all,

Maurice.