Eve gave our branch a highly amusing talk on this
subject at our April meeting.
Eve explained about the varying 'types' of
illegitimacy. There are those baptisms where the
mother only seems to be baptising her children with a
surname 'XX' which is not hers, so one can assume
that this is a fairly stable relationship with a man
named 'XX', but was he married already or saving for
somewhere to live?
She spoke about:
- those couples hastening to the altar or
Registry Office, as the bride was 4 or 5
months pregnant.
- how if you were rich, married or unmarried,
it didn't matter as money could sort it all
out for you
- where it was 'a one-night stand
- to the child of incest
- official and unofficial attitudes and what
the Parish registers told
- the ways that illegitimacy was referred to in
the Parish Register and other documents
- how maintenance was paid and how you discover
this, and how you are often very likely to
determine who the father was.
All this was given in Eve's inimitable style and
was a most enjoyable and rewarding evening.
'She was poor, but she was honest, Victim of a
Squire's whim.
First he loved her, then he left her, So she lost
her honest name.
It's the same the whole world over, It's the
poor what gets the blame.
It's the rich what gets the 'oggins, Ain't
it all a blooming shame?'
