Thank you for sending us your latest 'Ask the Expert' genealogy questions. Stephen Rigden and the findmypast team of experts have answered your questions this time round.
Stephen is the Head of Research at findmypast.com and an expert in Eastern European and Jewish genealogy.
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Q. On marriage certificate my great grandmother is down as being born in Boston USA. On the 1891 census she is down as being born in New Haven, Conn. Can you tell me how I can find out when she came to UK? She was born 1873 but we are not sure where.
I took a look at the 1891 census, which as you say shows your great grandmother as being born in New Haven MA circa 1872/73. It also states that she was a British Subject, indicating (given that she was a spinster in 1891) that, although she was born in USA, at least her father and quite possibly both her parents were British (born in UK) not American.
There is no obvious entry for her on the 1881 census, which (as you probably know) is available free of charge at http://www.familysearch.org. This leaves us with wide parameters of 1873 to 1891 for her (with or without her parents) travelling to UK.
Unfortunately, there are currently no resources available online for incoming long-distance passenger lists. Furthermore, the collection at The National Archives (series BT26) runs from 1878 to 1960 and could catch your ancestor but is not indexed. The only way to search is therefore speculatively, which would be a time-consuming (and, quite possibly, impossible) task: lists are arranged by date and port of arrival, and in neither case would you have the necessary starting information. On the other hand, TNA does have plans to digitise several of its record sets over the next two to three years and it is quite possible that BT26 might be among them: you would then be able to search online by name.
There is a useful TNA research guide on the subject of passenger lists online at The National Archives.
Passports were not required before WW1 and I do not believe this would offer a way forward for you in this case.
The records which will appear on www.ancestorsonboard.com are series BT27 and are outgoing long-distance passenger lists for the period 1890-1960.
Q. I have an ancestor whose parents married after he was born. On the birth record he has the mother's maiden name. Eventually the mother and father married and he had the father's surname. When a couple marry after they have a child does the father have to legally adopt the child or can the child call himself by his father's surname without changing the name officially?
A child born illegitimately will be registered under the mother’s surname and sometimes, additionally, under the father’s surname but only where the father acknowledges paternity and is present at registration.
If the mother later marries the father or, indeed, another man, the child may continue to use their birth name, or may assume informally the name of the father/step-father, or (after the legal process and registration of adoption began in 1927) might be legally adopted and thereby legally take the new name.
However, more generally and in answer to your specific question, it is true to say that in the jurisdiction of England & Wales it is perfectly possible for a person to assume another name without undergoing any legal process (whether marriage, adoption or deed poll).
Q. How do I obtain a copy of a death certificate for my uncle, a soldier killed on active duty in 1943 on Malta? From your data base I have obtained the volume and page numbers. Also, I have all of his Army particulars.
Death certificates can be obtained for individuals listed in all of the overseas death indexes (whether army, navy, air force, consular, marine etc), using the references (such as volume and page) given in the indexes on our website.
Appropriate forms can be filled in at the Family Records Centre in London. Alternatively, you can apply online, by phone or by post. Click here for more details.
Where can I view Divorce Records? I have not seen reference to them anywhere.
The only divorce records available online are some indexes available on our website here. These are the indexes to divorces and other "matrimonial causes" -- in other words, marital disputes which led to the courts. So, bearing in mind that not all the records here refer to divorces and that not all divorce cases actually led to a divorce, you can search online for divorces in England & Wales from 1858 to 1903. If a relevant entry is found, you can then use the case number reference to find the original case note papers, which are held at TNA in Kew.
For divorces later than 1903, decrees absolute are obtainable from the Divorce Registry, which occupies the same building as the Probate Registry in London: the Principal Registry of the Family Division at First Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, London WC1V 6NP. There is no direct public access: searches are conducted for you (short periods are sometimes done while you wait if the time period of the search is on the Registry’s computer) and cost £25 per each 10-year period searched. If the search cannot be done on the spot for you, results (including a copy of a decree absolute) are posted to you.
For more information on divorces, a good starting point on the web is The National Archives.
