After 1874 there was a fine of £2 if the birth was not registered within 42 days: http://www.owenfamilyhistory.net/civilreg.html   Most websites I have seen mentioning the history of Civil Registration including the Devon County Council website note that people were not truthful about the date of birth if it was a late registration. http://www.devon.gov.uk/family_history_3/civil_registration.htm   Joy ________________________________ From: Jenny Davis <jenny.davis(a)zen.co.uk&gt; To: DEVON(a)rootsweb.com Sent: Friday, 27 September 2013, 7:03 Subject: [DEV] Birth registration Dear Listers, I've always assumed that a birth certificate was THE way to establish an exact date of birth. But I've recently heard a family tale of a false date being registered so that a 'late' registration - I believe there was/is an obligation to register a birth within 6 weeks  - didn't result in a fine. The registration district concerned was Tiverton and the birth date was mid-November, so the 6-week period of grace would have expired at about Christmas time. Can others comment on whether this was a recognised practise; and what might the fine for late registration have amounted to in late Victorian times? Thanks, Jenny ------------------------------------------ The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) and the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) List archive for Devon can be found at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DEVON-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

On Fri, 27 Sep 2013 07:03:36 +0100 "Jenny Davis" <jenny.davis(a)zen.co.uk&gt; wrote: Hello Jenny, It happened. I know of one false DoB registered (to avoid the fine) in the early 1970s. As has been said by others, it's hard to do now, as the Registrar gets a printout of all known births; Both my son's and daughter's birth registrations were correlated against such a printout. When located, the details were checked (i.e. male/female SURNAME, DoB, where born) to ensure nobody was telling porkies. Of course, some are still going to slip through the cracks. -- Regards _ / ) "The blindingly obvious is / _)rad never immediately apparent" Where will you be when the bodies burn? The Gasman Cometh - Crass

<<snipped>> In this case I would start with trying to find a baptism entry in the parish registers. <<snipped>> Indeed - my maternal grandfather was supposed to be registered with an adjusted birthday. By the time she told me, my mother didn't know whether her Dad's celebrated birthday was the real one or the official. Fortunately, there is another, contemporary record of his birth in the parish register entry for his baptism, which clearly states October 6 1894 for his birthday. This difference from October 8 on his birth certificate implies that the story of the 2 day adjustment is true. This seems to be a time when this parish was recording birth dates as a matter of course. And after all that, it turns out that the birth was registered just 21 days after his birth - so he would have been legal with the correct date! Clearly someone got confused - a point worth bearing in mind if discrepancies appear. Adrian B

Well, there are tales in my wife's Irish family of late registrations to save the twopence (or whatever the fine was) which led to disputed when the OAP was claimed many years later. Fact or Fiction? I don't know. B

It was not at all uncommon for births to be registered after christening, frequently years. Also not uncommon were "Bulk" christenings. It is very possible that some of these late registrations and bulk christenings were due to geographical isolation. Regards and happy hunting Bill In Sanson New Zealand ----- Original Message ----- From: <paul.hockie(a)talk21.com&gt; To: <devon(a)rootsweb.com&gt; Sent: Friday, September 27, 2013 10:07 PM Subject: Re: [DEV] Birth registration Apart from marriage, where the registrar/authorised person is present, all registrations dates depend on the informant telling or knowing the truth. The current care system for births and the requirement for a death certificate make it harder for avoidance/mistakes to be made but they still happen. As has already been said, it may be trying to avoid the late payment penalty. Other reasons may be to ensure the birth came after the wedding or, in the age of limited literacy, just giving the wrong date in error. A look through the old index to the registers shows the regular corrections to entries. I do not believe that the error rate is huge but I always try to get corroborating evidence. In this case I would start with trying to find a baptism entry in the parish registers. Cheers Paul ________________________________ From: Jenny Davis <jenny.davis(a)zen.co.uk&gt; To: DEVON(a)rootsweb.com Sent: Friday, 27 September 2013, 7:03 Subject: [DEV] Birth registration Dear Listers, I've always assumed that a birth certificate was THE way to establish an exact date of birth. But I've recently heard a family tale of a false date being registered so that a 'late' registration - I believe there was/is an obligation to register a birth within 6 weeks - didn't result in a fine. The registration district concerned was Tiverton and the birth date was mid-November, so the 6-week period of grace would have expired at about Christmas time. Can others comment on whether this was a recognised practise; and what might the fine for late registration have amounted to in late Victorian times? Thanks, Jenny ------------------------------------------ The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) and the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) List archive for Devon can be found at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DEVON-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------------------ The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) and the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) List archive for Devon can be found at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DEVON-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2014.0.4142 / Virus Database: 3604/6701 - Release Date: 09/26/13 ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2014.0.4142 / Virus Database: 3604/6701 - Release Date: 09/26/13