Records of birth
I'm not familiar with the records of England (or anything about England). M4HM-1T6, William Petrie Hamlyn has two different POBs or does it? One source says he was born in Totnes the other says Buckfastleigh. are the different? it looks like there maybe 2 miles apart. maybe its all the same?
Answers
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Google Maps shows the distance to be around 7 miles, but there is another reason for these two place names suggesting two different places of birth. Totnes (in this context) refers to the English Registration District of Totnes (not the town itself) , where William's birth was registered. Buckfastleigh (which seems to be his precise birthplace) is / was just one of the places that formed part of that wider (Totnes) district.
Nevertheless, it is not uncommon to find even different villages listed as places of birth - say from one census record to the next (ten years later). Sometimes a different member of the household might have provided the details to the official gathering information for the census (from door-to-door) and got birthplaces of the different children (etc.) mixed-up. There are many inaccuracies relating to both age and place of birth in the records - especially census ones.
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