Talk:Peter Bocage

Birthdate

With reference to [1] the 31 July date seems to have come from Bocage himself per an interview I found. That may explain why it's all over as I think this interview is quite significant since it was fairly wide ranging and by historians. [2] That doesn't mean the date is right, but it's all over in books. I added one by Colin Larkin [3] since they may be a subject matter expert but frankly a search on Google Books or whatever finds plenty more including stuff from 1968 etc. The 4 August date seems a lot less common. I have no idea where that date came from (but it does seem to have predated us, at least Google suggests it appears in [4]), but as said wouldn't be surprised it the 31 date mostly came from the interview and probably also the fact if that's the date he gave in the interview that's probably also the date Bocage gave whenever people asked, and is probably the date he believed was his birthdate; and of course repetition from Bocage giving that date. I don't really care what happens (including simply remove the date) but agree we cannot rely in a birth certificate. If there is some reliable secondary source which specifically comments on the birthdate and says they investigated and found out X date is correct, IMO we should go with that no matter if the 31 July appears in a lot of sources. (Unless we find a source which says the same for the 31st date.) But others may disagree. Nil Einne (talk) 20:37, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

Thinking about it a bit more, I wonder if 4 August could be the date of baptism, as I believe it may have still been common for baptism to occur within days of birth at the time. Nil Einne (talk) 20:56, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

@Cmbocage: although we cannot source his birth date directly to the birth certificate, since Bocage died a long time ago and so WP:BLPPRIVACY concerns do not arise, it may still be helpful if you could provide details on it, especially if the date is neither 4 August or 31 July (although even confirming which date you believe it is would be helpful) or otherwise contradicts what is already on Wikipedia. Potentially such details may help us in the search for reliable secondary sources. Alternatively, you could try contacting those who've published the 31 July date if it's wrong, and provide them with your research and see if they would be willing to issue a correction (likely based on their own research/confirmation). A correction from a reliable secondary source would likely be sufficient for us to change the date. Nil Einne (talk) 05:16, 26 May 2020 (UTC)