Help from the GRO

[gf27]

I have a record of a child born and died circa 1910 in 3 Grosvenor Road, Liverpool. Parents Alfred and Eliza Fletcher(nee Johnston)This information taken from the 11 census
Nobody in the family knew of this child. I have no name or gender for this infant.
My question is. Would the GRO be able to find birth or death record for this baby from the information listed above?
Forgive me if this a silly question but am new to this side of things.

Thank you. Gareth.

[MaryA]

They will want a name. Do an exercise on http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ identifying all possible births within the time span you expect and then try to identify the deaths of them.

If you have narrowed it down you can place your order with the proviso that the parents are correct. If you have guessed incorrectly and the parents names are different then they will refund your money.

It might be worth your while checking the nearest church to where they were living for a baptism.

[dickiesam]

Hi Gareth,
Unfortunately the GRO will need a name. I suggest you do a search exercise on FreeBMD using these parameters.
Search only in these districts: Liverpool, West Derby and Toxteth.
Surname Fletcher.
Search from March qtr 1909 to Jun qtr 1911.
First search enter the age at death of 0. You should get get 10 hits if my finger was correct!
Next age at death enter 1. You will get 5 hits.
Next age at death enter 2. You should get 0 hits.

Print off each set of results and browse the names for common family names or a name given to a child born later to the same parents.

Also look for a Fletcher baptism online. The parents will be named. If you can find earlier baptisms for the same parents and they are at the same church there's a good chance the deceased child would have been baptised there as well.
Good luck.

[Karen]

There are numerous children aged 0 and 1 recorded as dying at around the right time in the districts of Liverpool, West Derby & Toxteth Park. The following list of deaths is taken from freeBMD.

Another way (albeit time consuming) to identify the correct child might be to consult burial registers for the relevant years amd see if their home address appears.

Mar 1909
FLETCHER Frank 0 W. Derby 8b 445

Jun 1909
FLETCHER Matilda 0 Liverpool 8b 19
FLETCHER William Gordon P 0 W. Derby 8b 239

Sep 1909
FLETCHER Helen 0 W. Derby 8b 224
FLETCHER William Valentine 1 W. Derby 8b 340
FLETCHER Male 0 Liverpool 8b 63

Dec 1909
FLETCHER Frederick 0 W. Derby 8b 394
FLETCHER George 1 W. Derby 8b 301
FLETCHER Muriel Jessie 1 Toxteth Park 8b 134

Jun 1910
Fletcher William Henry 1 West Derby 8b 290 S

Sep 1910
Fletcher Alfred 0 W. Derby 8b 377
Fletcher May 0 W. Derby 8b 220 Scan available - click to view

Mar 1911
Fletcher John W 1 W.Derby 8b 365
Fletcher Margaret 0 Liverpool 8b 34
Fletcher Sarah A 0 W.Derby 8b 296

[Karen]

It might be worth your while checking the nearest church to where they were living for a baptism.

A nearby C of E Church would be St. Bridget's on Lawrence Road. St. Hugh's on Earle Road would be a nearby RC Church.

[dickiesam]

Having seen the census page for this couple they had been married for about 2 years despite the entry of 18 months. Marriages Jun 1909: FLETCHER, Alfred and JOHNSTON, Eliza - W. Derby 8b 679

They are living at 3 Grosvenor Road, Wavertree, Liverpool which is in the West Derby Registration District. Those facts will narrow the search parameters but bear in mind Eliza may have been pregnant when she married.

[Hilary]

According to www.lancashirebmd.org.uk the couple married at Sr Bridget's Wavertree so I would look there for baptisms and possibly burials.

On the same site they differentiate between the sub districts so you could extract all the Walker children born in Wavertree area and then see which appear in the 1911 census and the one left could hopefully be the one you are looking for.

[MaryA]

St. Hugh's on Earle Road would be a nearby RC Church.

Karen, has this ever been known by a different name as I didn't find an entry for it at the Record Office.

[Hilary]

Using my own idea I extracted the 12 Fletcher births in 1909 1910 1911 in Wavertree and then on freebmd (lancashirebmd don't have the deaths for this time) I looked for deaths of the above 12 children and could only find one Alfred Fletcher born 1910 died 1910 so I reckon he could well be yours.

[gf27]

Thank you all so much, Such good suggestion's. After lots of thought and screen staring I think the baby could well have been Alfred. Education Officer you must be right
Thinking logically, must work on that. The baby's Father was an Alfred and the Fathers Father was Alfred and their last child born 1925 was also an Alfred. The last one was my Dad.
So all I need to do is order the certs. I wonder why they kept it a secret?

Take care. Gareth.

[MaryA]

I don't think it was a secret, after they mourned our ancestors often didn't speak of grief that had passed, sometimes too painful but also they concentrated on the living.

[Karen]

St. Hugh's on Earle Road would be a nearby RC Church.

Karen, has this ever been known by a different name as I didn't find an entry for it at the Record Office.

Not as far as I am aware. The full name is St. Hugh of Lincoln.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Wa ... coln.shtml

[MaryA]

Thanks Karen will check again at the RO.