Genealogy Chat

Hi, I didnt say that was what it meant, I posted the email I received from Kay for other peoples information and discussion.
See my post above - 15/11/2007 21:45:25

Still looking for death of Alice...?

My grandfather had twin brothers in 1867they had time of birth on certs, and my great aunt had twins in1903 with time of birth too.Jean

My gt grandfather b in 1840 was a twin and the time of birth is on his cert.

Possibly some registrars might not have bothered with time of birth though?

Times on a cert for the births of twin are not gauranteed, and the page numbers could indeed be different. A page can only hold so many entries so it is quite possible that one twin is the last entry on one page and the other is on the following page.

The only certain way to prove whether they are twins is to apply for the certs, but a friendly local registrar might well be the answer. You could always apply to the local reg office and state the names of the parents, specify if the information doesn't match then the cert is not required.

If the office find the info doesn't match then they won't send the cert but they won't charge you anything for looking either. Reference checks via local reg office are all included in the £7 cost of the cert.

No cert=No fee

Glen

For completion, here follows another email recieved from Kay:

Hi Rachel.
I hope this puts your mind at rest,,,,,,

I contacted the GRO,,as a queriy to these birth entries,,,,,

Their reply was,

No having checked the entires for the said people ,they confirm that there has not been an error in the indexes and although they cannot divulge any information regarding these these entries they can conform that duplicate Volume and Page numbers dictate a multi birth,,,,,,,,,

So they in a roundabout way said yes these are registered as twins but they havnt,,if you see what I mean,,,,,,,,,

Regards,
Kay,

Could this be a lead,

Death,

Alice Rapley,

Age 6,

1888,

Juy/Sept.

Steyning,


2b---149......

The one and only way to confirm if there are twins is to order both certificates, check the names of the parents are the same AND the dates and place of birth.

If all the above matches then it is pretty certain that they are twins.

BUT............without viewing the certs you might find yourself assuming twins incorrectly, this example is from a genuine tree

Two chaps called James (cousins) married two girls called Mary Smith (aunt and niece).
Both couples had children just a few days apart, registered them on the same day but without the date pf birth from the certs you would never know if the two children were twins or not. The parents names are the same on both certs so it is just the date and place that prove the fact.

Despite whatever you are told identical district and page numbers do not mean twins. Nor does the time of birth on a cert, twin births might have the time ommited and single births may well show a time.

Glen