1918 question on registering name of illigitimate child

[helenback56]

Hi, I'm looking for some advice.  My gt uncle, Edward Roland Cooke died in WW1 (June 1918).  By pure accident, whilst I was doing some digging into a child Edward's parents fostered, I discovered that Edward had been in a relationship with a girl and accidentally got her pregnant.  I'm told he had promised to marry her as soon as he next got back to the UK on leave, but was killed in France before he could ever return. 

By my calculations, the latest this child could have been born was march 1919 if Edward was to know about the pregnancy before he died.  The lady who told me about this is the daughter of the lady (Annie) fostered by Edwards parents.  Annie's daughter was very close to Edward's mother, Sarah (my great grandma) who pointed out Edward's son in the street one day to her foster granddaughter - apparently he was the spitting image of the Cooke men in the family but the mother of the child hadn't kept in close contact with what would have been her inlaws.  I think the girlfriend may have lived in the far cotton area of Northampton, but all I know of the child is that a) he survived, b) he was male and c) would have been born in 1918-1919.

What I would like to try and find out, is whether the child is likely to have been registered in the mother's name with no father on the certificate or registered in the father's name and him logged as deceased etc etc.  Although he would have been an illigitimate child due to his father's death, the parents would have married before his birth if he'd not been killed.

If its likely he was registered as a Cooke, I want to try and see if I can find out who he was.  My granddad (Edward's brother) didn't have any other siblings, so it would be nice if we did find some extra family along the way.

I have had a little dig through birth records for male Cookes at that time to see if any were missing married parents, but so far no luck.

[suzard]

He would have been registered in his mother's name - so without her surname it would be a very difficult  search.

She may have given Edward's surname as a middle name -or given Edward as the middle name - or even given the child Edward Roland as a forename

Suz

[PrueM]

Hi helenback

Suz is right - below are the instructions for entry of a father's name in the register if the child was born out of wedlock:

[After] the Registration Act of 1875 ... the instruction read "The putative father of an illegitimate child cannot be required as father to give information respecting the birth. The name, surname and occupation of the putative father of an illegitimate child must not be entered except at the joint request of the father and mother; in which case both the father and mother must sign the entry as informants"...This situation lasted until 1953.

http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/births.htm#COL4

Unfortunately unless you know the mother's surname it's going to be a difficult search 

Cheers
Prue

[helenback56]

Thanks,

It looks like I will never know who this child was then.  My dad and uncle were never aware of their uncle having had a child, and the lady I spoke to (Annie's daughter) doesn't know the child's or girlfriend's name either as he was only pointed out in passing by pure luck. So unless there are some very unlikely diaries floating around at my parents' house, the search will end here.  A shame but I thought this was how it might turn out.

[suzard]

You never know

Do you have the registration district he would have been born in??

If you know when your relative went to war that could narrow the d.o.b. down even more

Suz

[helenback56]

My great uncle died at war june 7th 1918, and from what I know, the child wasn't born before he died, so I know that the child would probably have been born between June 1918 and feb-march 1919.

I think I was told the mother lived in Far Cotton area of Northampton, but it will just show as Northampton on the BMD records unless he was born in Hardingstone where Edward's family lived (but one presumes she would have stayed with her family if not cast out).  There are also lots of males born in this period with the same surname as the mother's maiden name......I had to look but I have no way of narrowing it down that I can think of!  There are no Edwards or Rolands so far for the child to have been named after his father.

[PrueM]

At least you do seem to have the mother's surname - did I read that correctly?  Doesn't help much though, I realise 

[helenback56]

No, I have no name - just trawled through all the male births for the correct period and pulled out all the names that have the same surname as the mother.  I presume there must have been quite a few people in the same situation when partners didn't come back from war.  To find out who my gt uncle's son is, would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.....I just seem to not be able to let it go :-(

[PrueM]

Ah, ok - I misunderstood.  That was a good strategy, pity there were so many results of your search.

Sorry I don't have any other ideas at the moment...maybe someone will have a brainwave and be able to help further.