Trying again: - What reasons could there be for someone NOT appearing in birth records?

I'm hoping that someone with more knowledge and expertise than myself
(possibly Roy) can help solve a conundrum. I am trying to trace the
'Balfour' side of the family, as the others have already been well
documented. The thing is, I hit a problem as soon as I reach my
great-grandfather. His name was Donald Creighton Balfour and, according to
the documents I have (his attestation papers being the main one) he was born

Jeff...

I see from an earlier post on Rootschat (I assume from you)
that he married in British Columbia in 1914 when he would
have only been 19.

The likelihood, therefore, is that he was shipped to Canada
as a 'home child'

You should (if you haven't already) pursue the links on home
children at:

You do have some clues. I assume you already know he lists
in his attestation papers Muriel Balfour his wife as his
next of kin with an address in Croydon with your Fonceca
relatives

In tracing his birth and especially his baptism etc, worth
noting he was Roman Catholic. I'd say very much worth
contacting Greyfriars Convent and Church, Elgin, situated in
Abbey Street to see if there a baptismal record. If he was a
'home child' being RC could have influenced which was the
'sending' institution in UK

It is possible that you might learn more from his service
record

in Elgin, Aberdeenshire, on 19th November 1894. However, I have wasted Ł20 at
Scotland's People trying to find him and the search has been fruitless. Even
James Dempster very kindly wasted some of his SP credits on him and came to
the same conclusion.

Charani...

Someone, last year, was also looking for this person. If you use
groups, you may be able to find the discussions that have gone
on before. I can't remember offhand the name of the enquirer though.

Serena Blanchflower...

Are you thinking of Miss Perspicasia Tick? I had assumed this was
another of her pseudonyms initially, until I reread it properly.

Charani...

That's the girl!! Your memory is better than mine :)) It was just
the chap's name that registered with me. I can only vaguely remember
the thread and the fact that she had a few problems.

Serena Blanchflower...

The reason I remembered her was that I have come across her in various
other lists as well, under a few different aliases.

I have come up with several theories but I don't know how to go about
exploring each of them to rule them out.

1) His name at birth wasn't Balfour (or, if it was, his forename wasn't
Donald). Where the 'Creighton' comes from, nobody knows...

Mark...

Is it not possible that this was his mothers maiden name?

2) He wasn't born in Scotland. I have searched 1837online to see if I can
find records of Donald Balfours born anywhere in the UK between 1893 and 1895
but, again I've come up empty. His place of birth is given as 'Elgin,
Aberdeenshire' on his attestation papers (he was in the Canadian Overseas
Expeditionary Force during WW!)

3) He was born to an unmarried mother who dumped him in an
orphanage/children's home and the 'Balfour' is the name of the family who
adopted him. In fact, my great-uncle John's theory is that he was born to a
teenage mother in Inverness and his sire was a sailor on shore leave. Fearing
a thrashing from her father (and being disowned by her family) she ran away
to Elgin and left him in an orphanage. It's a romantic notion and I don't buy
it.

If, in the unlikely event, this was the case, I reckon I may as well abandon
all hope of ever tracking him down. If he was a foundling (e.g. she just left
him on the orphanage doorstep, knocked on the door and ran away with no
indication of a name - maybe she didn't bother to name him - then he could be
just listed as 'baby /n/'. I cannot see that they could have been very good
at determining accurate DoBs, either - maybe 19th November was only a
guesstimate. They could have taken in 100s of babies in that last quarter of
1894 (assuming that is when he was born) and I reckon it's going to be a
thankless (and fruitless) task searching through those records if, indeed,
orphanages/children's homes kept records back in the late 19th century. There
could have been quite a few such establishments in Aberdeenshire (maybe he
wasn't left in Elgin) and I wouldn't know where to begin searching!
I'm loathe to dispute the date of birth because he turns up in Tottenham,
aged 6 (and apparently unaccompanied), on the 1901 census (and I am correct
in thinking that particular enumeration was taken in March, aren't I?) which
would make a birth date of 19 November 1894 very likely.

ecunningham...

Margo: Of course, he could have invented parents, but what does his
1914 BC marriage record say?
Also, the time frame is probably too late, but don't forget the Scots
inter-changeability of Donald/Daniel.
ecunningham@att.net

If anyone can help me with suggestions of where I might look (I'm willing to
go to Edinburgh if someone can guide my search - I need to know what archives
I need to research, what records I'm looking for, etc). My great-uncle John
(it was he who came up with the 'unmarried mother' theory) has been to Elgin
on half-a-dozen occasions and has never found any records there.

I'm not looking for a needle in a haystack - I'm looking for an atom of a
needle in a haystack!

All theories, conjectures, ideas, hypotheses, etc extremely gratefully
received. At the moment I cannot obtain so much as a birth certificate
because, obviously, for that I need a date and place of birth and the name of
at least one of his parents. I fall at the second hurdle.

Am I ever going to learn anything about my g-g-grandparents (either real or
adopted)? Or might it be as well to abandon the search now? I don't want to
do this because it's been bugging our family for three generations now!

Thanks to anyone who can give me any leads.