Hi all My syndicate is transcribing 1939 Births. I've noticed that in handwritten entries, some clerks have added a full stop in *every* field, for example: --- Elizabeth. Adcock. Manchester. 8D. see S. 46. http://images.freebmd.org.uk/GUS/1939/Births/March/ANC-05/A-J/1939B1-H-0471.jpg There's also a variation where full stops appear in every field except volume and page number, as in: Kimberley. Avril. M. Bingham. Middlesbro'. 9D 746A http://images.freebmd.org.uk/GUS/1939/Births/March/ANC-05/K-Z/1939B1-K-0013.jpg I'm a bit conflicted about what advice to give my volunteers on these. Under "Deviations from Type What You See", Hints & Help for Beginners says: "Do not transcribe: [. . .] 3. Full stops after Age, Volume or Page Number. These are all merely data separators, and carry no data value." The following section, "Transcribing full stops", says that if there definitely is one in the forename field, it should be put in. However, it doesn't deal with stops in other fields. My own feeling is that in these entries, *all* the full stops are there merely as separators. Our scans don't have an Age column, but leaving out the stops after volume and page number/reference while including them after surname (if present), forename, mother's name and un-abbreviated district doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. The clerks themselves were inconsistent. On K-0013 referred to above, there's another late entry at the foot of column 2 in the same distinctive handwriting. This time, though, the only full stop is after the mother's name. Any thoughts or suggestions, please? -- Nowl