A Brother? - Finding A Stillbirth Entry
Firstly, I apologise for not writing an article for 2 weeks; I have been busy moving (over 76 miles away)! Also, due to the sensitivity of the article; I cannot say the names of the parents, deceased, or the baby's surname.
If you're like me; you will probably want the standard dates (birth, marriage and death), minimum, on your tree. So imagine my delight when I came across an old 'birthday book' full of birth dates and even some death dates (and times) too. Going through the book, one entry in particular caught my eye - an entry, for the 7th April, saying "My own little darling. Born & died. J. W. [SURNAME] (Jackie). As for someone who likes to have every close kin to an ancestor or someone who would have played a part in my ancestors lives (say a step nephew); this was new information that was very important to me. This date is repeated in the 'important dates' section of the book showing the year 1928.
After working out who's book this was, from entries such as mum, dad and our wedding etc., I was able to find out that the baby was the child of my great great grandparents and therefore a sibling to my great grandfather - whom he never knew of!
Jackie couldn't be found on either the birth or death indexes - which would indicate they was a stillborn child. Which led to some further digging online. I found out that stillbirth entries started to be recorded, officially, in 1927 - a year before Jackie's birth. So I decided to order the certificate.
Due to the sensitive nature of the entries there is no available still birth entry which can be searched online; so you've got to go the long way round to get it. Also, you have to be either the mother, father or sibling of the deceased child. This was to be a slight problem for me as all of these options had passed on. However, after getting in contact with the GRO I was able to get the child's next of kin (the child's nephew) to order the certificate. All we had to do was fill out the general form for the stillbirth entry stating the child's parents' full names, the mother's maiden name, their dates and places of death along with the year and place the event occurred. There were other smaller details such as information about the person applying for it. I didn't need to send off the birth, marriage and death certificates off to order the certificate - the dates and places sufficed. The cost of the certificate is the same as any GRO certificate (£9.25). If you would like to apply for a still birth certificate - you can do by emailing [email protected] with the subject line 'GQ Stillbirth' explaining your situation. Expect a few emails to go back and forth.
A few weeks later, we got the certificate with information such as: the date and place of the event, sex, father, mother (including maiden name), father's occupation, informant, when registered, who it was certified by and the registrar. Note that more recent entries will contain more information.
From this we was able to tell that Jackie was a boy (what we thought) and therefore a brother to my great grandfather and could be put on the tree as such. However, more importantly, we were able to remember him with dignity before his life was unknown forever.
Published: 29 September 2016
This article is in memory of all stillborn babies. Some may not be known but they will all be remembered with grace.
If you're like me; you will probably want the standard dates (birth, marriage and death), minimum, on your tree. So imagine my delight when I came across an old 'birthday book' full of birth dates and even some death dates (and times) too. Going through the book, one entry in particular caught my eye - an entry, for the 7th April, saying "My own little darling. Born & died. J. W. [SURNAME] (Jackie). As for someone who likes to have every close kin to an ancestor or someone who would have played a part in my ancestors lives (say a step nephew); this was new information that was very important to me. This date is repeated in the 'important dates' section of the book showing the year 1928.
After working out who's book this was, from entries such as mum, dad and our wedding etc., I was able to find out that the baby was the child of my great great grandparents and therefore a sibling to my great grandfather - whom he never knew of!
Jackie couldn't be found on either the birth or death indexes - which would indicate they was a stillborn child. Which led to some further digging online. I found out that stillbirth entries started to be recorded, officially, in 1927 - a year before Jackie's birth. So I decided to order the certificate.
Due to the sensitive nature of the entries there is no available still birth entry which can be searched online; so you've got to go the long way round to get it. Also, you have to be either the mother, father or sibling of the deceased child. This was to be a slight problem for me as all of these options had passed on. However, after getting in contact with the GRO I was able to get the child's next of kin (the child's nephew) to order the certificate. All we had to do was fill out the general form for the stillbirth entry stating the child's parents' full names, the mother's maiden name, their dates and places of death along with the year and place the event occurred. There were other smaller details such as information about the person applying for it. I didn't need to send off the birth, marriage and death certificates off to order the certificate - the dates and places sufficed. The cost of the certificate is the same as any GRO certificate (£9.25). If you would like to apply for a still birth certificate - you can do by emailing [email protected] with the subject line 'GQ Stillbirth' explaining your situation. Expect a few emails to go back and forth.
A few weeks later, we got the certificate with information such as: the date and place of the event, sex, father, mother (including maiden name), father's occupation, informant, when registered, who it was certified by and the registrar. Note that more recent entries will contain more information.
From this we was able to tell that Jackie was a boy (what we thought) and therefore a brother to my great grandfather and could be put on the tree as such. However, more importantly, we were able to remember him with dignity before his life was unknown forever.
Published: 29 September 2016
This article is in memory of all stillborn babies. Some may not be known but they will all be remembered with grace.
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*Note - No copyright infringement was intended. If there is a breach in copyright contact me through the 'Contact' section so it can be removed. All photos are Copyright © 2016 Harry Clarke. All Rights Reserved. The photo on the homepage for this article is courtesy of Still Born and Still Breathing.