Name change

[Kit]

If parents decided to change the name of their baby would, or could, they get the child rebaptised?

I have a 1911 census that states the couple had 14 children, 2 deceased at 1911. I had found 14 children on the census over the years but now have an extra child Sarah on the baptismal register.

Sarah Edith is baptised Jan 1878 and Mary Edith is baptised Jul 1878. I think they are one and the same.

[Phoenix]

What you should do and what you actually do are two different things.

Once you are baptised, that's it.

But you coud be privately baptised, at home, then publicly baptised in church, which is a welcoming ceremony to the congregation.

But by the 1890s you might well have a couple who insist on two ceremonies.

I assume that there is a birth reg for Sarah, but she is on the census (or dies) as Mary?

[Merry]

If there's only one birth reg and all the other information matches, then another possibility is that the first entry has the wrong name written down and it was just a private baptism followed by a welcoming ceremony. Sometimes it's difficult to establish the efficiency of the vicar!

[Kit]

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this thread.

There is one birth registration for Mary Edith in the first quarter. Nothing for a Sarah Edith.

I double checked both baptisms and neither mentioned a private baptism or anything out of the ordinary.

[kiterunner]

Do you want to post up some more details, or links to the baptisms, so we can have a look, Toni?

[Kit]

Thanks Kate, here goes.

The Brisbourne girls, parents Peter and Sarah Ada nee Stanway, baptised 1876, not 1878 as I said above. (FMP for the baptisms, ancestry for the census)

Mary Edith

Sarah Edith

1911 Census for parents

It looks like Mary married Henry Chatham in 1907.
Mary 1911 census

[Shona]

I'm inclined to agree with you that Mary Edith and Sarah Edith are the same person.

Baptismal registers tend to be written up from notes, so it is possible that the vicar entered Sarah instead of Mary - especially as her mother was named Sarah. I've seen that type of error before. When it came to light, a new entry was made in the baptismal register with the correct name. It is interesting that for the July entry, the name was written in as Edith Mary with the Mary crossed out and then entered before Edith.

The Brisbourne children are:

William Read, b Q3 1874, bpt 5 August 1874
Mary Edith, b Q1 1876, bpt 2 July 1876
Frederick Peter, died age 14, buried 16 July 1892
Alfred Henry, b Q3 1878, bpt 10 Nov 1878
Ernest Richard, b Q4 1879, bpt 4 February 1880
Robert Edward, b Q2 1881, bpt 31 July 1881
Percy George, b Q3 1882, bpt 26 11 1882
Allan, b 16 Sept 1883, bpt 31 Oct 1886 (with Ada), buried 5 Dec 1900
Alice Sarah, bpt 20 January 1885
Ada, b Q4 1886, bpt 31 October 1886
Sidney, b Q1, bpt 30 September 1888
Mabel Annie, b 28 July 1889, bpt 24 March 1890
Winifred Bertha, b 9 June 1891, bpt 17 April 1892
Frank, b 30 March 1893, bpt 2 July 1893

[Kit]

Thanks for looking Shona. I'm glad you agree with me, I had an awful feeling I had forgotten something basic.

I've found all the children, and like you Frederick Peter has eluded me but I haven't looked into him fully yet.