Genealogy Chat

Hi

In 1843 if a girl had a baby when she was not married would that fathers name be allowed on the birth certificate or not, I know in present day unmarried partners both need to be present but what was the law in those days.

Thanking you in advance for answering.

Angela

Most likely not .The babys father may be named on baptismal records as some priests insisted !! also she may have taken out a bastardy bond for maintenance.
The certs i have for illigitmate children in the 1800.s don't show any fathers name.

Hi

Thank you for your reply, the girl in question got married more or less straight after the birth of the child, and the child in the 1851 census has used his surname before his, he was given William Clark at birth then used William Kirk Clark. I will check to see if he was baptised. Can anyone please tell if I can check for a bastardy bond and how would I go about it.

Thank you

Angela

This sort of thing was very common. We have similar examples right up the the 1920's If they got married soon after then there it is a good bet that Mr Kirk was his father. and Ms Clark the mother. Occasionally we have seen the names the other way around so John Brown Evans was the son of Mr Evans and Miss Brown

There is unlikely to be a BB as on the face of it, there was no dispute as to paternity.

Hi

Thank you for this, it was actually yourself who helped me on the census forms a while ago and pointed me in the right direction. Without your experience and knowledge along with others on this site helping people like me I would definately have followed the wrong family line.

Angela

Who can register the birth?
If parents are married at time of birth or conception, either the mother or father can register the birth on their own.

If they aren’t married, to ensure both parents’ details are included on the birth certificate, there are several options:

both parents can go and sign the birth register together
if one parent cannot go to the register office, they will need to complete the statutory declaration form - the parent registering the birth should give the completed form to the registrar
where there is a parental responsibility agreement in force or either parent has an appropriate court order, this can be presented at the time of registration

Thank you very much Sat Nav for explaining the procedure to me I am extremely grateful, I know that both unmarried partners needed to attend together because my partner and I have been together 17 years and when we had our first child he worked away and they stated that I could not put his name on the cert if he was not there, so I waited until he returned home.

Bear in mind that is the current position. Back in 1843 things were rather different.....!

From my own personal experience researching, certainly prior to 1920 I have never found an unmarried father named on a birth certificate.

IGP
It depends on the individual circumstances I guess.

I have a certificate for an illegitimate birth on New Years Day 1882.
The child is registered in her mother's maiden name, as one would expect and no father is shown in the father's column
BUT
Luckily for me the informant was a relative, as I had hoped and gave his name and status as... Father.

Gwyn

Yes, it does, and that's just the gem you always hope to find, but would not have known if you had not sent for the cert.

Hi

Thank you for replying, did not realise that there were so many illegitimate births I thought that type of this was frowned upon and was a disgrace but it seems no different then to now

Angela

common law marriages, and illegitimate children were at least as common then as now.


In fact ................... it was often preferred if the woman was at least pregnant before thye got married, especially in rural areas.


It proved that she was fecund, and there would be children to look after the older members of the family!


and it was seemingly no disgrace involved



it was the middle class Victorians who were responsible for most of the rigid "disgraceful", "must not be done" attitudes



sylvia

My gt grandfather was born illegitimate in 1851 however a father was named on the birth cert. On my gt grandfather's marriage banns and his subsequent marriage cert the same father was named.

I have an idea who my 2x gt grandfather may have been... sadly died 18 months later after the birth of my gt grandfather... of TB at the age of 25 (from a possible death cert)....I just need to get some proof. Easier said than done!

Linda x

Strangely enough my great grandmother had both her mother's name and father's name on her 1841 birth certificate and the parent's never married. Eventually my 2 x great grandmother married and had more children but my 2 x great grandfather never married. I like to think there was a lovely romantic but sad story there but will probably never know.

Sue

Wasn't there some sort of technicality that prevented the esteemed Mr Milliband from being named as the father on his child's birth certificate because he was too busy to attend the registration? I thought that because they were unmarried he had to be present?

Milliband could have completed a Statutory Declaration Form if he was too busy to attend the Register Office in person, or perhaps he was too busy to do that too.....!

Google bastardy bonds followed by the name of the place/county you are looking for. I did this for Sussex and found several online although not for the name I wanted. It's worth a try.

Wendy x

Hi

Thank you for your replies and stories, I love this site

Angela

OR a first spouse of one or t'other had just died!