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I know you are in the UK and things are different there than here in the US. For instance, you drive on the wrong side of the road… You weigh yourselves in "stones," while we weigh ourselves in pounds (and not in your money…), but as you might say, "keeping the books" is nothing new…
I and my wife are both in our mid '70s and I was first born and my wife was the fourth child and we were both born in the same general area… On my birth certificate, there are check marks for whether my mother was married (she was…) and if she had been tested for syphilis (she was…). Back in the early '50s, after the wars (WWII and Korea), all first time mothers were tested for syphilis and marital status was noted…
My wife's birth certificate was a different form as her mother had given birth before and it notes that my wife was the fourth birth and no mention of her mother's marital status or testing for syphilis.
I guess that they (the authorities…) back then figured that anyone having given birth previously was obviously married and that married couples would never stray and bring home an uninvited guest…
And I will not even start with how the Brits are notorious for class separation and keeping track of a father's/mother's family status… L

L . . .
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