Genealogy Chat

Thank you very much to all of you for this very helpful information, which has cleared up some doubts.

untill the 1920s their was no such thing as legal adoption

Roy

Usually the father's name is left blank, if he is not there to sign to say that he is the biological father.

If the biological mother and biological father marry within 3 years of the birth of the child, the child becomes legitimate.

Perhaps this is why he did not bother to pay for a legal adoption. As he would be legitimate in English law.

Sandra Massey

The father of an illegitimate child will only be added to a birth cert if he goes to the registry office in person with the mother and admitted he was the father of the child to the registrar at the time of registration.

Roy

My mother born 1919 is registered under her mothers surname and her fathers surname both having the same reg no.

My grandparents married in 1920. I understand the fathers name is added if the father is present at the registration even though they are not married.

My gt grandmother born 1859 does not have a fathers name only her mother

The fathers names were not recorded on the birth certificates of illegitimate children.
Occasionally on the parish records a helpful priest would add the name of the father to the baptism record, but that was not usual and only the mothers name would appear here as well.
It may be that she did go on to marry the father, but there is no way of knowing
My grandmother was illegitimate, but was given a middle name of Robson, which I assumed was the surname of the father, as it was not a family name. Her mother then went on to marry a man called John Robson, so I assumed that he was the father. When my grandmother married, however, she left her fathers name blank on the marriage certificate. If her father was John Robson, you would think that she would have acknowledged the fact on her marriage certificate. So now I assume that it was some other "Robson" who was her biological father. It was a fairly common surname in the area.

Linda

Does anyone know whether the name and profession of the father of illegitimate children was routinely omitted from the birth certificate?

My grandmother's birth certificate omitted the name and profession of her father (she was born December 1883), but her mother then married who I believe was the father in March 1884. I originally thought that she was adopted by him, but am beginning to wonder whether he could, in fact, have been her biological father.

Any help greatly appreciated.