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I have quite a few birth certificates of illegitimate children and I have never seen the word illegitimate stamped on any of them.

No, I don't think it would have been recorded on the birth certificate that the mother was a minor. After all anyone under the age of 21 at that time was considered a minor.

Kath. x

Don't ask me why but I am drawn to the 1908 birth of Kathleen Stanford in Worcestershire. If she didn't go on to marry then there is this death who could be the same person:-


Name: STANFORD, Kathleen
Registration district: Solihull South
County: Warwickshire
Year of registration: 1993
Month of registration: July
Date of birth: 16 January 1908
District no: 0731A
Reg no: A26F
Ent no: 103
DOR: 793

However I must admit that I don't think that you have enough information to ever know for sure which is "your" Kathleen Stanford.

Sorry to sound defeatist but I can't see any way round it.

Kath. x

It wouldn't have been recorded anywhere if a mother was a minor?

I was told my mum's original birth certificate (we only have a later copy) had "Illegitimate" stamped in red letters across the top

What about following up on this one? Granny is called Agnes which is your mum's middle name.

Name: Kathleen Mary Stanford
Age in 1911: 2
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1909
Relation to Head: Granddaughter
Gender: Female
Birth Place: Hampton Wick, Middlesex
Civil parish: Felpham and Middleton
County/Island: Sussex
Country: England
Street Address: Middleton Manor Bognor
Marital Status: Single
Registration district: Westhampnett
Registration District Number: 85
Sub-registration district: Yapton
ED, institution, or vessel: 2
Household schedule number: 106
Piece: 5366

Frederick Stanford 78
Agnes Stanford 60
Frances Stanford 37
Elizabeth Geere 57
Edward Stanford 26
Mary Stanford 23
Kathleen Mary Stanford 2
Ida May West 19
Winifred Rose Clark 17

As far as I know any mother can register a birth no matter what her age.

Kath. x

Thanks Kath, yet another hurdle, hadn't factored in discrimination on women's voting rights!

Thanks Janice, I had excluded post-1910 births previously as too young - I had assumed that it would have been remembered in stories that she had only been a child herself, but maybe not...

Can a minor register a birth in the UK?

Old electoral registers are not online. They are usually at the main library for the area or the County Records Office. They can only be searched by address and not by name - but I don't think they will help you for the date you are looking at.

Kath. x

Oh yes - sorry, not doing joined up thinking here!

There are three 1908/09 Kathleens in trees on here, and an interesting one -1913 in Portslade, not a million miles from Brighton. It would make her a young teenage mum, but that could be why she was destitute. possibly worth following through and /or e-mailing.

Hi Janice,

The address given was the nursing home where my mum grew up, so a dead end there I'm afraid.

How does one see electoral registers? Are they available online?

Cheers

Simon

Before 1928 only women over the age of 30 and who paid rates had the vote, so unless she was over this age when she gave birth then she wouldn't be on the electoral register.

Kath. x

I have looked at births for Kathleen Stanford between 1900 and 1910 (which would make her 16 to 26 when she gave birth) and these are all I could see (unless there was a middle name on the birth certificate):-

Name: STANFORD, Kathleen
Registration district: East Retford
County: Nottinghamshire
Year of registration: 1908
Quarter of registration: Apr-May-Jun
Mother's maiden name: Not available before 1911 Q3
Volume no: 7B
Page no: 11

and:-

Name: STANFORD, Kathleen
Registration district: Kings Norton
County: Worcestershire
Year of registration: 1908
Quarter of registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Mother's maiden name: Not available before 1911 Q3
Volume no: 6C
Page no: 406

Kath. x

What about the address for the birth? Does that lead anywhere?

What about the 1925/26/27 electoral registers for Cuckfield? See if there are any Kathleen Stanfords.

Thanks Kath, you're right, she had gone from Cuckfield to Brighton, but she may have originated even further afield?

I think it was mentioned in WDYTYA that women often went to the coast to have children out of wedlock?

The story my mum tells is that a policeman brought her mother to the nursing home when she was found heavily pregnant on the streets. My mum's guardian was a midwife to the upper classes but also helped destitute women on occasion. She adopted my mum and another girl.

sorry i deleted the deaths they didnt match lol think im losing the plot its an age thing lol
PP :-D

There are three births on FreeBMD for surname Clarke with mmn Stanford.

Have sent to Simon by pm as they could still be living.

If Simon can find them, you never know. If they are his mother's half-siblings, Kathleen might just have told them that there was another child.

Trouble is that she may have been working in Cuckfield but that doesn't mean that she actually came from the area.

My grandmother had her first child out of wedlock and she went a long way from where she belonged to have the baby. She was working as a barmaid and cook at an Inn in Aldershot at the time of the birth but she actually came from Lincolnshire.

I would have thought that your Kathleen Stanford was likely (although not certain) to be younger than 12 or 13 in the 1911 census.

Kath. x

Thanks PollyPoppet, I had found that marriage, but again I couldn't for certain link that Kathleen Stanford to my mum.

This is the difficulty I have, with so little info, it always ends up "a possibility".

But thanks for your efforts

Marriage Record Name Kathleen M Stanford
Year of Marriage 1929
Quarter of Marriage Oct-Nov-Dec
Registration District Eastbourne
Registration County Sussex
Spouse's Surname Clarke
Volume Number 2B
Volume Page 235

Spouse Match: Kathleen M STANFORD married Alfred B CLARKE

Name Alfred B Clarke
Year of Marriage 1929
Quarter of Marriage Oct-Nov-Dec
Registration District Eastbourne
Registration County Sussex
Spouse's Surname Stanford
Volume Number 2B
Volume Page 235


a possible marriage

for ref her birth

Birth Record Name Muriel A Stanford
Year of Registration 1926
Quarter of Registration Apr-May-Jun
Registration District Brighton
Registration County Sussex
Mother's maiden name Stanford
Volume Number 2B
Volume Page 245