Roger, I use the term legally advisedly. The legal adoption process has only been in force since the 1920s and unitil recently children did not have the right to know their natural parents. Informal adoption has been around longer. Even now registration relies on a sworn statement by at least the mother or the married partner. My guess is the second registration was illegal and avoids the process but legal adoption has become more and more cumbersome and I would probably do the same. Cheers Paul Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android On Sun, 13 Nov, 2016 at 16:20, Roger M Evans<[email protected]> wrote: Dear Paul,   Your comment reference “access to adoptee certificate of birth” is not borne out by practice, my wife’s original birth cert was obtained by the spouse of a third cousin without consent from her , this would have been from the Norwich Registrar’s Office. Is your statement legally correct, if so I will be following it up, it never crossed my mind that there was any exclusion as the info is also available on FreeBMD.   I look forward to your reply   Roger M EVANS