Bastardy Records?

[Evelina]

Just been reading about Bastardy records in Yorkshire.  Did they have these in Scotland?  If yes, does anyone know where would I look for details.  Birth was in 1870 in Dunfermline, Fife.  Thanks Evelina.

[greenvalley]

Hi, 

as far as I know all BMDs are on Scotlandspeople, regardless whether or not the child was legitimate.

 http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

Greenvalley

[Evelina]

Hi Greenvalley, Yes I have the Birth Cert but this does not show who the father is of course and i just wondered if there was anywhere else to look.

[greenvalley]

I seem to remember that people were mentioned (kind of named and shamed) in church in these cases, but that may have been in earlier times. And it may not have applied to all churches either.

Sorry that I can't be of any more help.

Greenvalley

[Evelina]

Ok Thanks Greenvalley.

[shellyesq]

I once had a birth record on Scotland's People that had an RCE (Register of Corrected Entries) on it.  The father's name had been added after a finding by the sheriff.  You can see more information about that here:  http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?r=551&1314 

[ScottishAncestry]

Hi,

I think what you’re looking for is Kirk sessions. Unfortunately what Greenvalley says is quite accurate, these are generally for earlier times. Although the Kirk session books continued (in-fact still do today) The practice of investigating Illegitimacies petered during the 1800’s.

Basically the church wanted to have a fathers name before they would baptise a child therefore the Kirk session would convene meat with the parties involved and record the parentage of the child. Because the parish was responsible for caring for the poor this practice was a form of early maintenance for the child. As with all old records many are lost, some never existed and some record limited information however some are very informative and really quite amusing!!

A common punishment was being made to sit in sackcloth at the front of the church and be reprimanded in front of the congregation! Although in most cases this ended before the 1800’s.

These records also hold other informative information about the parish as well as illegitimacies.

The records for most parishes are held in Edinburgh but I would recommend checking the catalogue before you go as some are still held locally. On the whole the records remain un-indexed however if you know the date of birth you wouldn’t necessarily have to read the whole book. Many books have been digitally copied and can be viewed on the computers in the National archives but are not available on-line as yet.

Here are some helpful links:

http://www.maxwellancestry.com/ancestry/kirk.htm
Our website explaining a little more about the records

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?578
More information about the Kirk sessions

http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/historicalindexes/dfskirksession.aspx
Index to Dumfries Kirk sessions

Hope this helps,

Emma

[Thrall]

I have just returned from a short session in front of a screen at NAS, where in about two hours I just managed to skim through about ten years of minutes (about thirty + pages) from Kilchrenan KS in Argyll. The vocabulary was rather archaic, with legal terms here and there, but generally I got the gist and could transcribe later at home. I will have to return soon for another fix..............

If you really have to go through thoroughly, then reckon on a day, but with breaks as it is very exhausting if the handwriting is not perfect. If you see gold, then it costs 2.5GBP to print out five pages; I was "lucky", and found a couple of relevant accidental births, the interesting point being that the grandfather was admitted as an elder just before the first wain came into the world and was thus in the jury!

Guid hunting,

Thrall

[rochbell]

I also found birth cert and rce on scotlandspeople for illegitimate child.