Hypothetically..........

If a birth certificate actually differs from the GRO index....
would they correct the index (or the certificate?)

Don Aitken...

Either, or both, since both should reflect the contents of the actual
register. A certificate is "a certified copy of an entry in the
register of ... ", and the index is just an index.

Martin Brown...

No longer hypothetical...

Are you supposed to report transcription errors in the BMD indexes if
you find one? My own marriage index entry contains a typo.

The certificate itself is correct - we have the original :-)

Tids...

Freebmd transcribe what is there so if the GRO index
has a typo then Freebmd are unable to change it. Now
if the actual GRO index doesn't match the original register
then I guess someone will have to change something....but
I've no idea what.

Charani...

In this case the index would need to be changed since the original
certificate is correct and is the possession of one of the parties
involved.

Quite how one would go about it is another matter altogether. Contact

roy...

Oddly enough, I have just such a case at the current moment awaiting
an enquiry by the GRO.

At FreeBMD and confirmed at 1837online is an entry for the marriage
of Richard Freer and Mary Jane Hodge at Totnes in the December
quarter of 1856. The GRO duly issued the certificate based on this
information and all details tallied exactly with what I had expected
- except that according to the certificate copy the marriage took
place on December 25 1857 ! This is NOT an error of a modern typed or
handwritten entry, but the certificate is obviously a photocopy of
the original on which the year 1857 appears very clearly. When I
contacted the GRO they assured me they had this particular
certificate on their 1856 roll.

I await the result of their enquiries. This is the first error of its
type I have come across - and I can but assume the marriage has been
indexed in the wrong year - but those who have read Mike Foster's
book will scarcely be surprised!

Roy Stockdill

One would be in less danger
From the wiles of the stranger
If one's own kin and kith
Were more fun to be with

Ogden Nash

the GRO and the registrar involved I would guess.

Hugh Watkins...

in teh FRC Myddleton Street
there are annotations in ink of corrections in the index books

Hugh W

Nick...

Talking about corrections, why don't you check basic spellings before
posting!?

Martin Brown