Very little info - What to do?

[Norge]

I've been doing genealogy for over ten years, but never in Britain.

The problem now is that we try to find a person, but have very little info about him. We have name, date of birth (1934), know he was a english citizen, and lived in London during the war as a child. What we are trying to find out is who this persons parents were, so we maybe can go to census 1911 and find them, and the rest of that family. (But we are still not sure were he was born).

What kind of records is possible to use so we can find out where he was born and who his parents are!? I know this is a very generel question, but still it is hard as foreigners to know where to look.

Could there be any kind of records from London during the war, containing all the citizens of the city?

Cheers.

[SRD]

If you would like someone to look info up for you then make a post in the General Discussion section giving the name and dates. Otherwise such information is often available using paid for sites like Find My Past or Ancestry or you might be lucky and find it at the LDS.

[Antie Em]

Hello Norge - Welcome to the Forum.

You would need to look up this persons name on GRO records, you can do this for free on FreeBMD here : http://freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl. This is a free site, almost, but not complete, or you can use Ancestry, which has more scope. If you find a record that matches, this will tell you the mother's maiden name, and then with this information you can apply to the General Records Office for a birth certificate. This will obviously be more difficult if you have a more common surname.

If you don't have access to Ancestry and you are sure this person is no longer living, you can post an enquiry on the forum.

The only way you can search for a person at this time in London is through the Electoral Register, and then you would need an address, then contact the nearest archives to carry out a search for you.

Good Luck - Maggie

[grangers14]

I will move this over to Gen discussion for you.
Jo

[Norge]

Allright, thank you all for tips

Hello Norge - Welcome to the Forum.

You would need to look up this persons name on GRO records, you can do this for free on FreeBMD here : http://freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Yes i know about that. Is that database complete? Is every english citizen born in this period registered in this database?.

I am asking because i took a high chance now, when i ordered a birth certificate. In the FreeBMD i found one person in England born this year with this name, so i really hope it is him (And yes, the surname is quite normal, but i was kind of lucky). If this not turn out to be "my" person, i should assume he used a different name or something?. I mean it seems like FreeBMD is a record that british genealogists trust very mutch.

[grangers14]

You can search
http://www.192.com/people/

for living people but it does cost.

If you have found a possible birth it will show you the area the birth was registered in.

Freebmd is very good but is not complete. It does show you how much % each bit is done.
Jo

[Norge]

The person does not live in Britain today. Allright, i thought it was completed. So after the census in 1911 there are probably no completed records containing all or 99% of the population?

[Antie Em]

More complete birth records can be found on Ancestry - if you don't have access to this, send me a private message and I will search for you.

The census is taken every ten years in the UK but has a 100 year privacy policy, I'm afraid this is the latest one you would have access to.

Maggie

[Norge]

Well i do, but basicly i think the information there is the same as FreeBMD gives. No birthdates, etc.

[gardener]

Yes i know about that. Is that database complete? Is every english citizen born in this period registered in this database?.

I am asking because i took a high chance now, when i ordered a birth certificate. In the FreeBMD i found one person in England born this year with this name, so i really hope it is him (And yes, the surname is quite normal, but i was kind of lucky). If this not turn out to be "my" person, i should assume he used a different name or something?. I mean it seems like FreeBMD is a record that british genealogists trust very mutch.

Hi
FreeBMD should hold all the 1934 birth registrations http://www.freebmd.org.uk/progressB.shtml#1930

So if you disregard human error and parents who refused to register their child then he should be on there.

So if you only find one person with that name born in that year then you should be safe enough. You must also check the first quarter of the next year as if he was born at the end of the year his birth could have been registered in the following quarter - you have six weeks in which to register a birth I think.

Do you know which country he moved to? It may be worth using google just in case he crops up. People do for all sorts of reasons.

[Norge]

The thing is that he was born late in march, but i've also been told that he could be in the april-register aswell. I did not know that. But that is very usefull to information

[gardener]

Well that at least puts him firmly in 1934.
If he was born in March then he could have been registered in the June quarter.

Based on the date of the registration it goes:
January-February-March = March quarter
April-May-June= June quarter

But as you now realise if he was born in March and his parents slow to register him then he could have been registered in April and fall in the June quarter.

I think that most births were registered quickly though. Delays seem mostly to be when no one could decide on a name!!

[grangers14]

He was born 26th March thats why I feel he would be in the next quater and that is also in the right area, Westminster, where he was known to live at one time.
Jo

[gardener]

Sounds very likely

[grangers14]

I will archive as requested.
Good luck!
Jo