THE CYPHER WOMAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18512, 24 March 1922, Page 3

THE CYPHER WOMAN

A BIRTH REGISTER PUZZLE. Of all the extraordinary things that can happen to a person born in England, one of the most unlikely ] )as befallen a London woman, who learned sonic time ago that she is in the unique position of being unable io prove that she is alive. Unofficially she is just as much alive as anyone reading these words, hut she has no existence in an official sense because there is no record in Somerset House that she was ever born. The discovery was made when an oecosion arose which called for the production of a copy of the woman’s birth certificate. At the registrar’s office, after the officials had made search, she was informed that no such person as herself existed according to the records. The astonished'Woroan consulted her parents, and then it was discovered that her birth had not liecn registered although it took place 27 years ago. The omission w.is due to a chapter of accidents. The father was travelling when his daughter was born, and the mother had a very dangerous illness immediately afterwards. The question of the baby's birtli registration was overlooked, and later father and mother each assumed that the other had attended to this formality. To her further astonishment the young woman learned that the omission could not be rectified. The law lavs down that no certificate cf birth can be issued after the lapse of seven years. Daughter and parents set out on their quest to solve the riddle: “How can she prove that she is she?” By a chain of fortunate circumstances the nurse who was present at the birth was traced. She and the parents signed in the presence, of a magistrate dcrlaralions which were accepted) as satisfactory for the immediate purpose in hand. But . the woman is still without a birth certificate, and as far as entry of her name in the national records gee*. Hie matter rests where it did. She can only be a “ghost” at Somerset House, never to get inside the recorded pages of the great. Family of England. She is possibly the only person with this distinction since registration was made compulsory.