Triplet children in great Britain and Ireland

Abstract

The study of twins is somewhat impeded in Great Britain by the absence of the registration of multiple births; for, contrary to the practice of most civilised countries, the occurrence of twins appears in the registers as two distinct births, occurring to the same parents at an unusually short interval of time. Consequently official data are lacking as to the frequency and sex distribution of twins and triplets. On the other hand, the existence of a Royal Bounty for triplets supplies a potential source of information, of which it is believed scientific use has not previously been made. The records of the Royal Bounty, in the charge of the Secretary of His Majesty’s Privy Purse, constitute in effect a special registry of triplet births, including the great majority of the cases in Great Britain and Ireland. With the support of the Medical Research Council the author was kindly allowed access to this material, for which he desires to express his indebtedness to all concerned. Visits to individual families for the purpose of measuring the surviving children made the enquiry a more expensive one than if the information had been gathered merely by correspondence. During three years the British Association made grants to a Committee, appointed by Section H, under the chairmanship of Dr. Shrubsall, in aid of this work, which together with a generous donation from Major Leonard Darwin covered nearly the whole of the actual expenditure. This would have been much greater had not a number of gentlemen (see below, p. 288), situated in districts distant from London, freely given their assistance in taking measurements.