I'm sure this is a silly question.....

[Muggins in Sussex]

but... if a father decided in 1940 that his son (then aged 20) had done something (in his view) so awful that he wanted to publicly disown that son, then could he (the father) have arranged to have the son's birth record completely expunged from the records?

I'm sure this is a really stupid question :o, but would just like confirmation so that I can eliminate another madcap theory! :d

[maggie_4_7]

No, its a legal document and not his to change on a whim.

[Muggins in Sussex]

Thanks Maggie :)

I needed to be sure for elimination purposes

I sort of feel I may be on a roll - not sure where I am rolling to though :d:d:d

[JessBow]

I wouldnt have thought so, I think I have heard of one case in the USA where a child 'divorced' their parents, but what would be gained by taking a name off a birth register? you cannot obliterate the fact that they were born.

*Phew* Holds nose...What's that you have rolled in? Doesn't smell very good

[Olde Crone]

Once an event has been registered it can never be removed, not under any circumstances, ever. It can be altered, amended, suppressed even (bigamous "marriages") but it can never be wiped out.

OC

[Kit]

Thanks Maggie :)

I needed to be sure for elimination purposes

I sort of feel I may be on a roll - not sure where I am rolling to though :d:d:d

So if you are on a roll can you give more info? Can we help?

[Muggins in Sussex]

Thanks everyone - I feel a bit sill for asking the question, now! :o:o:o

There's not really anything new, Toni, but thanks anyhow

[Olde Crone]

Actually (and I probably shouldn't pander to your straw-clutching, lol) I've just remembered a thread on another forum.

Someone was trying to trace her birth family, found records of her BM and records of at least 8 other children all born in very quick, too quick, succession. Cut a VERY long story short, when she applied for one of these birth certs she was told no such record existed.

It very clearly DID exist, she got onto the local Registrar who eventually told her that the BM had been perpetrating a fraud and registering false births in order to get family allowance and other benefits - this was in the 60s. Once a birth has been registered it can never be removed from the register, even if it is a fraudulent entry, but it can be suppressed.

However, as many many copies of the indexes, compiled at many different times and updated at a whim ,by whoever is custodian of them, a birth may still appear in old copies of indexes, so I doubt if this is relevant in your case, Muggins.

OC

[Nell]

I think you can publicly make it clear you no longer recognise your son. You can refuse to leave money in your Will, tell him to never darken your door again, cross his name out of the family bible etc. But you can't destroy public records.

[maggie_4_7]

Thanks everyone - I feel a bit sill for asking the question, now! :o:o:o

There's not really anything new, Toni, but thanks anyhow

aww don't feel silly Joan you wouldn't believe some of the hair brained schemes I've come up with in my time to try to explain things in my father's past but I didn't have a forum in those days to put them on :D

Sometimes some of the hair brained schemes can ring a little true in places at times when you finally have the whole picture.

I think its a valid question after all adopted children's birth certs have an amendment (don't shoot me down in flames) I have never completely understood what they actually do when someone is adopted to the original registration.

[kiterunner]

Maggie, according to some info from the GRO that I found with a quick Google:


The original birth record is not removed following an adoption, however,
the entry in the birth register is annotated with the word "adopted" in
the margin and all subsequent copies of the entry will show the
annotation.

[maggie_4_7]

Maggie, according to some info from the GRO that I found with a quick Google:


The original birth record is not removed following an adoption, however,
the entry in the birth register is annotated with the word "adopted" in
the margin and all subsequent copies of the entry will show the
annotation.

Thank you.

But if someone is adopted and the adoptive parents change their name can you match the records up though?

[kiterunner]

Not sure what you mean, Maggie, sorry, match what records up?

[Kit]

Thank you.

But if someone is adopted and the adoptive parents change their name can you match the records up though?

No you can't get an original birth cert that says adopted and work out the new adopted name for the child, if that is what you mean.

[lozaras]

I've always wondered too. I should ask my older brother.

He was born to married parents but mum divorced when bro was still a baby. Seven years later she married my dad & they adopted bro, so he has the same surname as me.

What happens for passport applications & suchlike where you have to produce your birth cert?