Adrian said: > FYI - Unless I'm mistaken there has never been a requirement to produce a > proof of marriage certificate when registering a birth. (Mark Herber says > something similar in "Ancestral Trails".) Having said that, Scots birth > certificates do state the date and place of marriage and I note that the > current Dundee registrar's site says "If the parents are married to each > other, it would be helpful to take their marriage certificate when the birth > is to be registered". However, "helpful" sounds like they can't enforce it > and if someone says something about their "marriage", I imagine it would > have to be taken as truth. All comments gratefully accepted! ** It is a common occurrence in birth certificates of the early 20th century to have a marriage place and date on the birth certificate which is totally spurious! This avoided the dreaded stamp (or handwritten) "ILLEGITIMATE" being placed on the birth certificate. An illegitimate birth was still a social stigma back then, and people would go a long way to avoid this (except contraception!). While giving false information was still a criminal offence, it was the lesser of two social evils if you got away with it - and most did. Gordon Johnson.