Scottish Birth Certificates of Illegitimate children.....

[joanne mc]

Hello,
i'm brand new to this site so I apologise in advance if I have put this in the wrong place.
My grandfather was born out of wedlock in 1925 in Glasgow. His parents were still together but not married therefor his fathers name is not on his birth certificate. I have been told that the fathers name should have still been registered at the time even though it was not on the birth certificate. Would anyone know if this is true and if so how I would go about finding it?
thank you,
regards joanne

[AndrewP]

Hi Joanne,

Welcome to TalkingScot.

A child born to unmarried parents had only the mother's name on the birth certificate unless the father went to the registrar's office and signed the certificate to say that he was the father. If he wasn't there in the registrar's office the mother (or whoever was registering the birth) couldn't give the father's name for the record. In some cases, after a court inquiry, a father's name is added later by an entry in the Register of Corrected Entries - that will be notified by a stamp on the birth certificate.

I take it from your message that you have a copy of the birth certificate. Is that a certificate that was issued when his birth was registered, or is it one that you have obtained more recently? If it is from the time of registration, then any RCE stamp on it would not be there as that would be added at a later date (if it is there at all). If you need to know if an RCE was ever issued, then you need to have someone view the certificate in New Register House, Edinburgh for you. You may be able to ask by an e-mail to the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) if there is an RCE for his certificate. If you imply in tyour e-mail that an RCE entry would make it likely that you would order a copy of that certificate, that may help.

See http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/famrec/bdm.html
and e-mail via their contact form
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/contacts ... -form.html

If that child married in later years, both parents should be named on his marriage certificate. Similarly upon his/her death, both parents should be named on the death certificate (assuming both names were known to the person registering the death).

It looks like you need to find your grandfather's marriage certificate and see what is given there. If that was issued in Scotland, you will need to order it from GROS as it is too recent to be online.

All the best,

AndrewP

[joanne mc]

thanks andrew, you're a star.
the certificate I have I thought was the original but now i'm not sure as it says "extract entry of birth" i dont know what an RCE stamp looks like but i cant see one, where would it be? I'll try get my hands on the marriage cert today from my aunty on Glasgow. I am assuming the father would've been registered as they were still together and had a daughter 5 years later, still unmarried!
thanks,

[AndrewP]

An extract is the one normally supplied to the "customer" upon registration. The information given is that extracted from the original birth certificate. I have my (1960's) birth certificate extract here - it is a typewritten transcription giving all the information that is on the original certificate. The date that the information was extracted from the register will be on the certificate, probably at the bottom of it. If the extract was made on the date of registration as most would be, then it would be before any RCE was made.

If the extract was made some time later, I don't know if an RCE mark would be made on it or not. You need to see a copy of the original certificate, not the extract, to see if an RCE exists. On the original certificate, any RCE marking is normally a stamp mark in the left margin, indicating a volume, page and date for the RCE, which is held in New Register House (NRH). A contact to GROS at NRH via there website to ask if there is an RCE on the certificate would be your best plan.

Or ask here if anyone is going into NRH in the near future and can have a look for you. If you find a volunteer, supply them with the name, date, place and certificate number from the extract that you have.

Under current legislation it will be about 20 years before his birth certificate will be online at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk . Birth certificates are not online until 100 years has passed. Also marriage certificates are available online after 75 years and death certificates after 50 years.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Jack]

Hi Joanne,
If you send me a personal message with your GF's BC details i'll have a look at the original page.
As Andrew mentioned - name, date, place, cert no.
Ta - Jack

[DavidWW]

In general an extract supplied after the date of an RCE will either have the information contained in the RCE supplied in the body of the information, - e.g. subsequent proof of paternity via Sheriff Court action, - in which case there will be no indication that the birth was first registered as illegitimate and that there was an RCE; or a transcription of the RCE typed on the back of the extract, e.g. information supplied as a result of a reference to the procurator fiscal.

David

[Jack]

Hi Joanne,
Just to say there was no RCE on the original page.
So no father's name mentioned, only his mother's.
Jack