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Occasional Copy:A

A space for genealogy-related conversations.
meekhcs
Posts: 468
Joined: 02 Jun 2020, 18:19
Location: Lincolnshire, but Hampshire born and bred!

Occasional Copy:A

Post by meekhcs »

Real gnashing of teeth going on at the moment!

My Father's birth registration at the GRO follows the usual format, but has Occasional Copy:A, at the end.

Neither the GRO, or the local Office where the birth was registered, are able to tell me why it has been marked this way at the GRO. In fact the local office had never heard of Occasional Copy:A before!

What is the point of adding this, if there is no record of why it was added?

I have read Peter Carver's (Lost cousins) explanation that he received from the GRO, and therefore presumed that the original registration was altered in some way. Unfortunately I have only ever had the short certificate as an original document, but I did order a copy of the long certificate a few years ago.

Dad was born in 1930, so his entry was only added by the GRO a short while ago. It was purely by luck that I found it when on the GRO site recently.

has anyone else come accross this and found an answer?
Sally
Mick Loney
Posts: 371
Joined: 15 Jun 2020, 07:27

Re: Occasional Copy:A

Post by Mick Loney »

I’m surprised the local office has not neard of a Local Copy A, as they are fairly common, and I believe the term is used when the original copy was amended at some later date (someone will no doubt correct me if I’m wrong :D ).
This could simply be a matter of correcting wrong information on original certificate, i.e. surname mis-spelt, or wrong date entered.

Edit: What makes you think his entry was only added recently? The short certificate you have, simply means whoever registered his birth didn’t want to pay for a copy of the full certificate, which was nevertheless, still produced and sent to GRO at the time of registration.
meekhcs
Posts: 468
Joined: 02 Jun 2020, 18:19
Location: Lincolnshire, but Hampshire born and bred!

Re: Occasional Copy:A

Post by meekhcs »

Hi Mick

Yes I realise it could be something as simple as a spelling error.

I sent a copy of Dad's birth cert I have from the GRO to the local register office, and it is identical to the one they hold. I am intrigued, because I know that the cert I have for Dad is wrong.

Ironically, when my grandparents married in 1928, errors were made on their certificate, and the corrections are written on the certificate!

Sally
Sally
meekhcs
Posts: 468
Joined: 02 Jun 2020, 18:19
Location: Lincolnshire, but Hampshire born and bred!

Re: Occasional Copy:A

Post by meekhcs »

I meant the GRO index was only recently extended to add the births up to 1934, certainly long after I ordered his long cert in 2006. The index from FBMD, Ancesty, FMP does not include the OC:A ref.
Sally
Mick Loney
Posts: 371
Joined: 15 Jun 2020, 07:27

Re: Occasional Copy:A

Post by Mick Loney »

Sally,
From what I have just read, when a correction is made, a new copy is sent to GRO and replaces the original and the new certificate becomes the official certificate but it’s entry is marked Occasional Copy A, which indicates it is not the original certificate, but is a replacement for it. Apparently you can still get hold of the original if you so wish, but it cannot be used for official purposes, as it was superceded by the amended copy (You’ll need to ask GRO how you go about ordering one of these)

PS You didn’t answer why you thought it was only recently registered. Is it because the date on the certificate is recent? This is the date the copy was made, not the date the original certificate was made.
meekhcs
Posts: 468
Joined: 02 Jun 2020, 18:19
Location: Lincolnshire, but Hampshire born and bred!

Re: Occasional Copy:A

Post by meekhcs »

Mick

To answer your PS first I tink we were posting at the same time, hence my answers.

The searchable GRO Birth Index on their website originally covered approx to the year 1920, I can't remember exactly. From 1915 onwards MMN's were automatically shown on indexes held by Ancestry etc. The searchable GRO Birth Indexes have been added to in recent years and now include up to and including 1934, and some far more recent years.

I ordered Dad's Cert in 2006 through the GRO, but using the reference form the Ancestry Index which did not include the OC:A tag, because I couldn't see it on the GRO site.

I was looking through the GRO Birth index recently and happened to check Dad's entry, which was now visible, as he was born in 1930, and saw the OC:A tag.

To the first part of your answer:-

Through DNA I know the details on Dad's cert. are incorrect, although they may not have been known at the time, and I was intrigued to know what the original cert said.

In order for GRO to send me a copy of the original, I have to supply the original reference, which I cannot find. I have searched the GRO using every possibilty I can think of, and cannot find another registration. I have contacted the office where the birth was registered but they say there is no difference between the copy I have from the GRO, and the certificate they have.

Hence my frustration. I don't know where else to turn.
Sally
Mick Loney
Posts: 371
Joined: 15 Jun 2020, 07:27

Re: Occasional Copy:A

Post by Mick Loney »

Aah, I see your problem. The article I read on Lost cousins, implied that with an occasional Copy A, entry, one could simply ask GRO for a copy of the original certificate. I assume it had the same reference as the copy, but without ‘The occasional Copy A’, and all one had to do was to specify the original copy when one placed the order. You can read article here: https://www.lostcousins.com/newsletters ... #gsc.tab=0.
Hope it helps
Mick
Thunder
Posts: 436
Joined: 14 Jun 2020, 01:43

Re: Occasional Copy:A

Post by Thunder »

Mick Loney wrote: 17 Mar 2021, 16:29 I’m surprised the local office has not neard of a Local Copy A, as they are fairly common, and I believe the term is used when the original copy was amended at some later date (someone will no doubt correct me if I’m wrong :D ).
This could simply be a matter of correcting wrong information on original certificate, i.e. surname mis-spelt, or wrong date entered.

Edit: What makes you think his entry was only added recently? The short certificate you have, simply means whoever registered his birth didn’t want to pay for a copy of the full certificate, which was nevertheless, still produced and sent to GRO at the time of registration.
Short birth certificates are known to have been used to hide illegitimate births as well as being cheaper.
meekhcs
Posts: 468
Joined: 02 Jun 2020, 18:19
Location: Lincolnshire, but Hampshire born and bred!

Re: Occasional Copy:A

Post by meekhcs »

Thanks Both

Mick - as I mentioned earlier I had read the piece by Peter thank you.

Thunder - Yes I was aware of possible circumstances surrounding short certificates.

I am waiting for replies from both offices but I suspect I will never resolve this.
Sally
AntonyM
Posts: 66
Joined: 15 Jun 2020, 12:44
Location: Buckinghamshire, UK
Contact:

Re: Occasional Copy:A

Post by AntonyM »

There is no "original certificate", the only original document is the register entry held at the local registration office.

Occasional Copy - just means that the entry was submitted to GRO outside of the normal quarterly returns process. It does usually indicate a correction to the entry, but I suppose it could be that the entry was missed in the normal return and submitted late. The first such copy submitted will be "Occasional Copy A", if another one is submitted later it will be "Occasional Copy B", and so on...

The article linked to in LostCousins referred to seems to have confused Occasional Copies with re-registrations (something else entirely)

I would want to see a certificate produced by photocopying the actual register entry held at the local office to see if any correction, however minor, is apparent. They don't have to produce such a certificate, but some will do so if asked.
Last edited by AntonyM on 26 Mar 2021, 12:12, edited 1 time in total.
Professional Researcher (retired) and former Deputy Registrar
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