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Thanks for that, Gerry. Adoption is just one area I'm persuing as her birth remains a mystery. She might well be alive but I do not know where; and I agree if it turns out she is adopted great caution is needed.I didn't know about the Adopted Children Register, I'll have a look.

Generally, hospitals were private in those days and patients had to pay. The NHS didn't start until 1948. So unless you had a bit of money, most births were home births.

If your relative was adopted then you most likely have her adoptive name, if so, she will have an adoption certificate... this certificate replaces her original birth certificate.

If she was adopted then she may have been born in a mother and baby home. Is your relative still alive? She may not know of her adoption... and a huge problem and dilemma.

You could look on the INDEX of the Adopted Children Register... if your relative was adopted then she will be listed in her adoptive name.

Hope this helps.

Cheers Gerry

Hi Gena - Re local maternity hospital.
I don't think that was quite it - except for the war, I would have been born in St Mary's Hospital on Praed St, Paddington, more or less right on top of the train station. I don't know, but I imagine that a couple of times a week, they'ld form up a convoy of preggy women and stick them on a train, and at the other end they'ld be taken to the maternity hospital. In my case, this was a requisitioned country house stuck out in the boonies. I think the only other difference was that, a couple of times each week, the registrar or his assistant popped round on their bike and did the birth regos. I was in the area 50 y later with a couple of hours to kill, so I went and found the place. After the war, it had been used as a convalescent hospital/home for a while, Eventually, it got privatized as an old folks home.

Thank you for your offer, Shirley. I might take you up on it, but at present, I'm quite enjoying the hunt, but do not yet have the experience to know where to look beyond the basics. It's very comforting to know that people want to and are willing help in others searches.

Not that i have found.Gena
But she must have been registered .do you access to the full records on Ancestry or Find my past If not I dont mind taking a look for you

Thanks, Shirley, will try that. Do you know if any records exist of London or local area evacuees?

FreeBMD doesn't go up to those years as yet ,and if you put the name in search on Ancestry it only searches the Freebmd ones that have been uplifted to that site. Ancestry is one of the sponsors of Free BMD.

if you know her mmn then that will show on the birth ref. her mum may have been evacuated early in the War(.I was in late Sept 1939.) so her birth may not be where you expect

Hello mgnv,
Thanks for the information; I had been told that records might be incomplete at this time but hadn't thought about it being elsewhere. I tried Hosprec, but they don't have Mile End Hospital on the site, yet it still exists today. Unfortunately, I don't know if there was a local maternity hospital, and I haven't yet looked up The London Hospital in Whitechapel.
Our family name is not common. I would have thought she was on GRO as most people need a birth cert. at some point; would she have been registered retrospectively if the original records were missing?

Thanks, Gerri, I might request specific help soon but would like to try other routes first; I'm just not sure what those routes are, hence any suggestions welcome! I need the experience!

Maternity wards were often evacuated during the war, so her birth might be registered anywhere in the home counties, or even beyond.

Full Name? Can we help look for it?

Gerri x

hello again, My rellies mum and Dad married in 1936 (I have their certificate), approx. 3 years before her ?birth, but I will double check, thanks.

Tried under mum's maiden name?

Yes! ????

Have you looked in the Complete BMD Index ranges & Images 1837-1983 on Ancestry?

I have had no luck tracing a birth registration of a relative who was born in 1939/40, possibly in the Stepney/ Mile End area of London. I have her marriage certificate. Surely she would have needed a birth cert. at some point in her life? Another thought was that she might have been adopted and changed her name. How do I go about finding 1) a missing birth registration; 2) finding out about possible adoption?
Anyone any thoughts on this, please?