Mother's signature on birth register?

kathyc · Post by **kathyc** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:51 pm

Is it very common to find a mother's signature on a birth register? I've just come across my first example.

I'm trying to figure out when my ggg grandfather died. I believe it was before the 1871 census, where the family entry shows my ggg grandmother as head of the family with no sign of him anywhere, and probably after the birth of his last child in November 1863, where his name is given with no indication that he's deceased. So I started wondering whether he might have been ill or otherwise unable to register this child like he did an earlier child.

(SP gives me one relevant statutory death for his name and age range, but it's the wrong one, with a different wife and a child old enough to sign the register.)

Have you seen other examples where married women have registered their children instead of having it done by another family member?

Kathy

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:07 pm

Have you seen other examples where married women have registered their children instead of having it done by another family member?

From the small sample I have of births I would say it's not uncommon; I counted 9 mothers and 1 nurse out of around 60 births. [ and only 2 of those were illegitimate; the nurse and 1 mother].

Nowadays in Scotland the father can only register the birth if he's married to the mother, attends with the mother or has a declaration from her that he is the father!

Post by **AndrewP** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:24 pm

Hi Kathy,

On 725 birth certificates that I have for my family tree, the informants are as follows:

father (648)
mother (54)
father and mother (9)
grandfather (3)
grandmother (3)
aunt (2)
uncle (2)
father and grandfather (1)
grand uncle (1)
matron (1)
assistant matron (1)

So, from that lot as a sample, about 89.4% are signed by the father alone, about 7.5% are signed by the mother alone. and a further 1.25% by both parents. The remainder is less than 2%.

All the best,

Andrew

kathyc · Post by **kathyc** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:42 pm

725?! That's quite a collection, Andrew. Amazing!

Kathy

Post by **AndrewP** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:21 am

kathyc wrote:725?! That's quite a collection, Andrew. Amazing!

They were mostly found during visits to New Register House over the course of 10 years. They are all from my paternal side, my mother's side mostly being outwith Scotland and a lot more difficult and costly for me to trace.

All the best,

AndrewP