Thread: Odd letters under name on Birth certificate

Would anyone know what the letters under the name on this birth certificate mean? There are no addresses, just Denham, for either place of birth or the informant who was the child's grandmother and present at the birth. No father is listed on the birth certificate and the child was given his mother's surname.



The letters look something like R + D or RfD

Many thanks

elanter, on the certificates I have they often say RD or UD - I have always taken it that they stand for Rural District or Urban District as an indication of the council area. I could be corrected though!

Regards

Cheshirelassy

Hello Cheshirelassy



That sounds quite likely. I believe Denham would have been a rural district of Eton then. Do you think the second letter is insignificant?



Pity though, we thought it might be a clue as to the place of birth, possibly a workhouse, due to no father mentioned and the birth being registered by the grandmother.



Many thanks for your reply



Elanter

Elanter, if you think the birth may have been in the Eton workhouse, have you looked at the information on this site?

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/

Regards

Cheshirelassy

cheshirelassy



Thanks very much for that I'll have a look now



Elanter

Hi Elanter,



I think it is possibly Rural District as cheshirelassy said.



I have just got out my father's birth certificate, his mother's and another sibling.



42 Duke Street

Heworth

Felling

UD



Davison Place

Dunston

UD



92 Walker Road

Newcastle

UD

Hello Starlight,



Thank you for that, it's not something I've seen before and not too sure if I understand the reasons for its use.



Was it just to distinguish between the urban and rural areas of Denham or in your case Newcastle do you think? rather than parishes. It's very interesting though.



I was hoping that it would have been a clue to where the child was actually born. This is the first certificate I've had with no addresses on it. But I'm guessing it had something to do with the child being illegitimate.



Thanks again,

Elanter

elanter, just a thought. Have you looked on the workhouse site to see if the address of the workhouse was Rural District. I also noted that the Buckinghamshire Archives hold some records for the workhouse. You might get lucky, I did.

In the Wirral Archives they still had the Creed Register, which contained details of the admission of three of my ancestors, with birth dates, religion, parents, date of admission and reason for, etc.

If they have them and you don't find the child you may find the admission details of the mother.

Good Hunting

Cheshirelassy

Hi Elanter,



Although my father and his siblings were born in Durham I don't know the area. I would imagine after seeing this that they are to distinquish between urban and rural areas of Co.Durham. To be honest, I've never taken any notice of the UD on mine. Probably because they did have an address on them.

Hi Elanter,

I think this goes back to the shires, being RD or UD of the shire

they are in.



Cheer's,



Tippo.





[quote name='elanter']Would anyone know what the letters under the name on this birth certificate mean? There are no addresses, just Denham, for either place of birth or the informant who was the child's grandmother and present at the birth. No father is listed on the birth certificate and the child was given his mother's surname.



The letters look something like R + D or RfD

Many thanks[/quote]