From: charlesellson@btinternet.com   
      
   On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:03:14 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"   
    wrote:   
      
   >On Tue, 11 Jan 2022 at 09:01:51, Graeme Wall    
   >wrote (my responses usually follow points raised):   
   >>On 10/01/2022 23:34, cecilia wrote:   
   >>> When might mother's occupation appear on a full birth certificate in   
   >>> England in the years between WW2 and 1984?   
   >>>  In thje last few years, I have come across three GRO birth   
   >>> certificates from London registration districts where  the mother was   
   >>> the informant and no father was named.   
   >>>  It's not always possible to be sure of what's in an image in a   
   >>> television programme, but in each case there seemed to be, after the   
   >>> mother's name, an occupation and an address - presumably place of work   
   >>> since it differed from the residential address in her entry as   
   >>> informant.   
   >>>  How normal was it to include cccupation of the mother if she was the   
   >>> only parent listed?   
   >>>  How common was it for any parent's details to include a place of   
   >>>work   
   >>> as well as an occupation?   
   >>   
   >>My father's birth certificate gives his father's place of work: Civil   
   >>servant (War Office), though that may be an anomaly.   
   >>   
   >Or could it be that "(War Office)" was a way of indicating that the   
   >person was not normally a government employee, but was co-opted (or some   
   >such suitable term) for the duration, or part thereof?   
   >   
   A civil servant is an employee of the Crown. They can be moved up,   
   down and sideways within the different departments of the civil   
   service. Merely being "borrowed" from outwith the civil service would   
   not turn someone into a civil servant unless they were formally   
   employed. "Civil Servant ()" was not an   
   unusual description but not universal; the distinction was often not   
   relevant to matters outwith the person's field of employment.   
   In this case it might have had a bit of relevance had the child   
   applied for a civil service job in later years but his father was no   
   longer around. Even half a century ago, details of your parents'   
   occupations, nationality etc. were required parts of the job   
   application paperwork.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)