Hi, I think you may already be realising that a certificate doesn't prove anything if you don't have any information to back it up. We have a relative John HAIGH and there are several born in 1849 (not even certain of the year thanks to poor information in 1881 census) so although I know his father was Joseph there is no point in sending for a birth certificate as it tells me nothing which will prove the parentage of John and I feel this is the case with your birth certificates. When you are sure you have the right age and location a birth certificate will tell you the maiden name of the mother but you need to know the mother's Christian name to confirm what you already know.. I sent for a birth certificate of what I thought was my grandmother born in 1880 in the first quarter - Alice Stephenson, only to discover when it arrived that it was the wrong one because I happened to know the day and month of my grandmother's birthday - I had in fact got the year wrong, she was born 1879. I made the mistake of not checking this as I believed her to be 60 years old when I was born. If I hadn't known I was wrong, I would have researched the wrong family as I didn't know her parents name, they both died when she was young and she was raised by relatives. I also sent for a certificate for a Norman Spence who I found on the War Dead site to see if he was a son of Frederick and Jane Longbottom as the address didn't mean anything to me. While I was busy explaining this to a friend .I discovered a postcard with the same address and I realised I hadn't needed to buy this certificate after all.. I did have their marriage certificate and was trying to identify their children before1901 census data was readily available. They lost 2 sons in WW1 and I recently found records which show that another son was discharged with a medical condition making him unfit for duty. So you need to learn the many different ways you can try to obtain information. I like marriage certificates but am not so keen on birth ones. Death certificates are useful if you know the family as the ones I have seen show a family member giving out the information and the address is known to me. Free BDM is a great tool but it doesn't have everyone on it. The Yorkshire BDM is good if you are researching Hull or Leeds but is limited on other details. I have discovered WW1 war records can often take us beyond the 1911 census with family details. Wills can be a good source of information. I bought two for ancestors who died in 1793 and 1843 and they were full of family details but another one of great grandparents was rather disappointing as he left everything to his wife (I already knew who she was) and didn't mention any other family. Modern Wills could well be similar as many of us leave everything to our partner then to our children unless we have complicated money issues. Baptism records are also good but you need to know the church they were baptised at and in later years many families didn't bother with christenings. Learning how and where to get information is part of the fun of genealogy and what makes it a skill which is challenging and fun and of course you have to check and recheck to avoid tracking the wrong family. I found that it isn't enough to just track ones direct line you benefit from looking at the various branches. Electoral rolls are also useful and newspaper records. I think you can access information from a library close to where you live. My people come from Huddersfield and records seem to be readily available in their main Library. plus they have a FHS which has records. There may be a Family History Society close to you which will have records and someone to guide you. I have to rely on the internet and the legs of people who do go to libraries because I live in an isolated part of Australia without access to any of these. Fellow researchers are very willing to help and it isn't a one way street as sharing information we also share a different way of thinking and can even share certificates and photos thanks to scanners One researcher going to the Huddersfield library has sent me details of 3 inquests. 4 court reports and a death notice from the local paper recently and working as a team (3 others are working on this) we have learned a great deal including that we shared an ancestor who was actually transported for 8 years for stealing 4 herrings. Another ancestor emigrated to Canada and his descendent is researching this line and passing on her information to us. I am in the process of learning how we access information in Australia. Genealogy is a bit like being given a jigsaw with only a few pieces and someone adding more pieces as you go along. Every bit of information helps. Have fun with it. Finding someone famous might sound appealing but there is just as much fun finding ancestors you have searched for. Jean in S. Australia. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jayne England" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 5:57 AM Subject: Re: [WRY] Marco Pierre WHITE > > Thank you for such interesting info Roy. > The witnesses to the marriage of MWP's parents were (unhelpfully!) G. > STODART & J. YOUNG. The grooms father's occupation is given as "Gas works > canteen manager". Groom's residence is given as Brearly Street, Leeds 9. > I am waiting for the two copy birth certs to arrive, although the person > who > telephoned me back to confirm the certs before issuing them did mention > that > the occupation of the father on the one with mother's maiden surname LEE, > is > given as "hotel chef". This would tie in with what I have read the MWP's > father and grandfather were also chefs, although of course I cannot assume > anything until seeing both certs. > I was not previously aware of Yorkshire BMD's site, so have checked the > link > you provided and sadly the marri! age cert for the WHITE / LEE couple is > not > available for download, so I will maybe order that once I have the births > certs, as I admit that is the couple who are looking most likely to me at > the moment. > I am also wondering if perhaps a "hotel chef" registering his son's birth > in > 1927 may turn to being a canteen manager later in life by the time his son > got married in 1954? It's not a million miles away in terms of > occupation - > or is it? > Jayne > > ---------[ Received Mail Content ]---------- > Subject : Re: [WRY] Marco Pierre WHITE > Date : Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:47:23 -0000 > From : "Roy Stockdill" <[email protected]> > To : <[email protected]> > On 16 Mar 2010 at 15:27, Steve Bamford wrote: > > Jayne, > > > > Do you have any other details on the marriage certificate, e.g. > > father's occupation, witnesses (who are often siblings or other > > relatives) - these might give you clues that could help you pin down > > the father. > > > > Some useful websites - > FREECEN - http://www.freecen.org.uk/ > FREEBMD - http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ > Want to know where a place in Yorkshire is - Try Genuki > http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

A search of google shows that Marco Pierre White's father Frank died in 1997. The GRO deaths indexes shows he died in the Leeds Reg. district and gives his date of birth as 27 April 1927. Therefore, if one of the birth certs you have also gives this date of birth, you could probably safely assume it to be one and the same person, as I doubt the chances of two people with exactly the same name and date of birth in the same area is very likely! You could also try finding out if he left a Will, which may show more information on the wider family. Hth Tracy