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Hospital birth records for 1979

Cork

Hi,

I'm trying to find baptism records for myself.

I'm doing research and trying to gather some documents.

I already have my short (original) birth cert and got a copy of the long form birth cert about 14 years ago from the CRO in Cork.

I'm looking for my time of birth so also my Hospital records would be v useful.

To my knowledge, for some reason it seems this piece of information was not always recorded on the birth certificate.

However, I think it possibly was/is on the Hospital record?

I've sent emails to most of the official bodies who are meant to provide certified long form birth certificates but just hoping for other infos that might help.

Also just to start the discussion about this issue in general.

How can we have access to documents from ~ 100-150 yrs ago and not have any trace of documents from 40-50 years ago ??

Or do you have to be disembodied to be able to find such infos about yourself ;)

I suspect these records are sitting somewhere in filing cabinets all over the country waiting to be discovered and scanned and made available by request.

I did contact the hospital where I was born under a FOI request back in 2022 but they came back (after 4 weeks without reply) saying they could not find anything...I'm wondering how hard these clerical officers are looking for the requested information?

I'm.wondering if the SAR request ( https://www.hse.ie/eng/gdpr/sarsform/process ) would yield different results?

Anyway, just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone has gone through a similar situation and if they had success!

Thanks 👍

heavenknows

6 replies

heavenknows,

In Ireland, the time of birth is normally only recorded on a birth certificate where the child is a twin/triplet etc to determine the eldest for inheritance purposes. Some other jurisdictions always record the time of birth for every child eg Scotland, but not here.

When the RC church gave approval to film baptism records for genealogical and other purposes there was a cut off point, and in general those within the past 100 years are not on-line for privacy reasons. It is often possible to access them if you contact the parish, but they won’t be on-line. But I’ve never seen a baptism record with a time of birth on it, if that is what you are hoping for.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Elwyn,

Thanks for the reply and information. Interesting to note the reason for recording the time on the birth cert. I wasn't aware. 

I had been told a few days ago that a woman born in 1950s Dublin had her time of birth recorded on her BC so I guess this maybe was a reason.

I guess I'm mainly looking for my time of birth and any other useful documents such as Baptism certificate that I could dig up. I'm curious also to see what other records the Hospital has on me and if I could get them to work a bit and find them...

I have contacted my local parish by email as regards Baptism certificate so will see what response I get there.

Yes, I couldn't imagine time of birth being on that but curious to see what is on it anyway.

Cheers 

heavenknows

You say...........

I had been told a few days ago that a woman born in 1950s Dublin had her time of birth recorded on her BC so I guess this maybe was a reason.

Was she born in the Rotunda Hospital?     More than likely that's is why the time of birth in the 50's.

Another thing I did notice in my searches... Rotunda Hospital was very busy you will notice other places around Ireland with this,  if you would like to use this site....and put in unknown as the first name you will see 10000+  records.

Most didn't name a child until Christened or Baptised. 

 Irish Genealogy - Explore your Family History

Margot Secrette

Hi,

Not sure about a birth cert from 1979 but I do know that modern certs (2005 or so onward) have time of birth recorded on them.I register players for a sports club and therefore have to upload copies of their certs for first registration and all have time of birth on them. 

agha

Thanks for this information agha

Margot Secrette

Thanks for the info everyone. Yes , seems around early 2000's they started to put the birth time on birth certificates.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2055708032/how-can-i-find-out-what-time-i-was-born

From what I can see the birth time is something that was always recorded by the hospital.

Just to post something I came across today which was for a birth in 1956 and the woman was able to get her hospital birth record.

https://oic.ie/en/ombudsman-decision/cf90f-ms-p-and-rotunda-hospital/#:~:text=Background,or%20her%20mother%27s%20obstetric%20chart.

Anyway, I will see what type of feedback I get from the agencies I contacted in last few days.

heavenknows

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