Genealogy Chat

Hi Booklady My dad was born in the workhouse 1910 because his mum had a hard time giving birth. They were hospitals too for those who couldn't afford medical care. Hope this helps Pam

I emailed the London Metropolitan Archives to ask them what records they held that may be of assistance in tracing the father of my illigitimate grandmother and tjhis was their response: (Thought it may be of interest to others as well) From LMA: I can confirm we hold the records of Magistrates Courts which may be of use to your search for information on your ancestor's childhood. Magistrates' court rather than quarter session were responsible for granting maintenance orders at the period in which you are interested (c1905). Courts covering the area of Islington at the time at which your ancestor was born include North London Magistrates Court and Clerkenwell Magistrates Court. While we do not hold any records for North London Magistrates Court dating from before 1909, for Clerkenwell Magistrates Court we hold Minutes (charges and summonses), Notebooks and Domestic Cases c. 1900-1930, and Bastardy Orders c. 1893 - 1963. We also hold the records of Islington Board of Guardians - which often assisted in the maintenance and welfare of children under its local jurisdiction. Lists of these holdings are available on the 'London Generations' pages of our website. Please see our leaflet 'Poor law Records in London and Middlesex' for further information- also available from our website. Obviously they refer to Islington as this is where my grandmother was born but it does show the kind of records available for illigitimate children's support/bastardy bonds available for the period. Suzanne

i've nudged this thread as i've lost one of my own-that was asking for advice on similar grounds. My research is 1914 in the southern area of the river Thames London.how would we begin to look for the info of these court orders .. thanks . k

I need this information too. Can quarter sessions be checked online? Also my birth in 1905 takes place in the workhouse (possibly). Would the mother have been taken to the workhouse because she was pregnant with an illegitimate child or because thi was the place to go for births. My Mother was born 31 years later not too far away and in that area it was still the norm to be haveing home births.

Thanks everyone, sorry I didn't reply sooner, computer went down!!! Suzanne

In a thread earlier in the week it said that bastardy bonds only went up to the mid 1800's Penny

I think by 1905 bastardy bonds had been replaced with court orders and you'd need to look in the Quarter sessions for the relevant county. nell

Try searching in the archives. A2A. Put your name you are searching for & see if anything comes up for that area. Hilary.

Hi everyone Can anyone tell me if Im likely to find anything out about the father of an illigitamate child born 1905? Might there be demands for child support at that time or were they supported by the parish? Suzanne