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I have two birth certificates that give the time of birth as well as the date:

Maria Midgley, born 16 May 1848 at 12.30 a.m. at Habergham Eaves, registered Burnley

John Midgley born 5 June 1850 at 9.35 a.m. ditto

Someone once told me that if the time was included, it suggested a twin birth, but there is no trace of a twin in either of these cases.

Was it perhaps simply the practice of a very zealous registrar (Robert Mann), who always chose to include the time?

Ruth

We've had this happen before. Take a look at this topic viewtopic.php?f=15&t=109&p=3156&hilit=birth+certificate+time#p3156
Hopefully the link will open on the page giving explanation!

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Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

The only instances I have of times being on the birth certificates were twin births. Could the other have died at birth maybe? I have looked on ancestry and lan-opc but cannot find a death registered that could be linked to either of those.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Thanks Mel for the link - and Gloria for back up on the search for twins.

Looks like there's no definite answer to this one but it seems most likely that including the birth time was simply what was being done routinely at the time. The link to the Leaver query referred to a birth in 1851 - so within a year or two of my two instances.

On the other side of the argument, there have been at least two instances of twin births in the line I am looking at (John Midgley's grandmother and one of his sisters had twins) ...

Ruth