Genealogy Chat

Hi, has anyone found way of searching the index for entries relating to illegitimate births? I've tried a few options of entering the dash in the mother's maiden name box, but none of them have worked. I have a situation where I know someone had an illegitimate child between 1901 and 1910, but I have no idea what the childs forename(s) were, or where they were born, except it is likely it was England. Searching by surname, leaving mother's maiden name blank doesn't work, it only brings up the first 250 entries. The mother had another illegitmate child in 1911 who was a new born on the census and both were in a nursing home not in the area where she was born, the other child isn't with her or with her parents. Hence I don't have any other pointers to where the other child was born.

could you give the mothers maiden name

Hi, the mother's name was Perkins.

You say you 'know' there was a previous birth - what is the source of your info?

If you post 1911 it would perhaps be helpful

1911

33 Alexandra Road Bedford, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England


Hilda Denman Head Married Female 39 1872 Sick Nurse And Maussuers Enfield Liverpool
Sarah Jones Patient Single Female 88 1823 Private Means Bedford
Nora Walts Patient Single Female 25 1886 - Bedford
Emma Perkins Patient Single Female 29 1882 Housemaid Lincoln
Alice Edna Perkins Patient - Female 0 1911 - Bedford

Emma was in Lincoln in 1901

Hi, I'm not conversant with how to "post" the census. However, on it, despite the fact that the question about births was intended for married women, it has been completed to show that she had 2 children both still living. I am aware that this kind of detail is not always accurate, but given the attitudes at the time, I doubt that a young woman would freely admit to more illegitmate births than was the case.

Found these - obviously you'd need the actual cert, unless you can find them on the census

PERKINS, ANNIE -
GRO Reference: 1902 M Quarter in LINCOLN Volume 07A Page 511

PERKINS, ETHEL -
GRO Reference: 1908 J Quarter in LINCOLN Volume 07A Page 536

1911 for Annie, possibly

John Andrew Fothergill Head Single Male 52 1859 Iron Turner Lincolnshire Lincoln
Alice Ann Perkins Servant Single Female 36 1875 House Keeper Lincs Grantham
Annie Perkins Visitor Single Female 9 1902 - Lincolnshire Lincoln

Hi, I've just had a look for Ethel and found an interesting schools admission on FMP in Lincoln, under the name Price/Perkins. Looks like this is worth some further digging.

https://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/genealogy_chat/thread/1376130

A little further digging into the address on the school admission has revealed it to be the address of James Perkins, father of Emma the mother, from the1911 census. She is also shown as having been at school in Nottingham prior to admission in the school at Lincoln, and only seems to have been in the school for about a year, & is shown as having left the district. So it seems that whilst my original question of whether the GRO index can be searched to just show illegitimate births hasn't been answered, the identity of Emma's other child has been solved. I obviously need to follow up the link to Nottingham and where the surname Price fits in.

Sorry not to have answered your question.

England and Wales Census, 1901
Name: Emma Perkins
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 31 Mar 1901
Event Place: Lincoln St Margaret In The Close, Lincolnshire, England
County: Lincolnshire
Civil Parish: Lincoln St Margaret In The Close
Ecclesiastical Parish: St Peter In Eastgate With St Margaret
Sub-District: Lincoln Home
Registration District: Lincoln
Residence Note: Lindum Road
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Occupation: HOUSEMAID DOMESTIC
Relationship to Head of Household: Servant
Birth Year (Estimated): 1882
Birthplace: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Schedule Type: 264
Page Number: 38
Household Role Sex Age Birthplace
Sarah Elizth Watson Daughter Female 27 Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Mabel Bert Watson Daughter Female 25 Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Charles Collsn Watson Son Male 24 Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Ethel Maud Watson Daughter Female 21 Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Dora Margaret Watson Daughter Female 13 Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Emma Perkins Servant Female 19 Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Ada Flor Millus Servant Female 22 Tillbridge, Lincolnshire

With your collective help I've found the missing child and may not need to worry about the answer to the original question unless something similar crops up again . I'm kicking myself, I should have looked at Lincoln births before trying to cast my net wider - wise after the event. Emma married James Price in Nottingham in 1913, I've found her on the 1939 reg in Nottingham as a widow. It's the right Emma as her DOB fits with her birth reg and she's the only Emma Perkins birth reg'd in that quarter.