Private Baptism for illegitimate child?

[Plastique]

I am fumbling around looking for the illegitimate son of one Sarah Ann LEWIS who was born in Lancashire in the early 1900s. I don't know what the child's name was, but I have found a possible match in a child named Rowland (variously spelled "Roland") Brian LEWIS, born and died 1908 in Rochdale, Lancashire: http://tinyurl.com/krsbtkp

I have a copy of his baptism record: Chapelry District of St Mary's, Wardleworth, Rochdale, Lancaster, 1908 which reads as follows:

[Illegible month in left margin: possibly "July" or "Aug" 3, 1908 - presumably the date of birth.]
DATE OF BAPTISM: Aug 11, 1908.
NAME: Rowland Brian.
MOTHER: Sarah Ann.
SURNAME: Lewis.
ADDRESS: 25 Whitworth Road.
OCCUPATION: Weaver.
CEREMONY PERFORMED BY: A. Clayton.
[Note in right margin:] "PRIVATE"

It is noteworthy that there is no father named, unlike most of the other baptisms on the same register page, and that this was a Private Baptism.

I understand a private baptism was sometimes done if the child was not expected to live - and indeed this unfortunate child did die shortly afterwards.

I am also wondering if private baptisms were common in the case of illegitimate births, when the mother may have been unwilling or unable to take the baby to be baptised in church?

[PaulineJ]

Is there any indication in baptism dates on the page if they were regularly done on a Sunday (and this one wasn't?)

Maybe better to baptise ASAP rather than wait till the weekend if the infant was unwell..

[Plastique]

Hmm, well, according to this online calculator 11 August 1908 fell on a Tuesday.

This is not necessarily meaningful because on the same register page there are other "regular" (non-private; both parents named) baptisms that did not take place on a Sunday either.

By way of comparison, there is only one other baptism on the same page that doesn't name a father. That was not a private baptism either, and it *did* take place on a Sunday.

So, I'm not seeing any pattern here.

[andrewalston]

I'd run with the "child unwell" explanation.

Illegitimate children seem to have been a lot more common than some would have us believe, and most clergymen seemed to be happy to baptise them. After all, it's not the child that has sinned, is it?

I suppose there were churches where the situation was frowned upon. In Blackrod, for example, most baptisms were at St. Katherine's. Some families used St. Wilfrid's at Standish for all their services. However nearly all baptisms of illegitimate children seem to have been at All Saints in Wigan.

[Plastique]

The fact that there is no father named on the baptism record does seem to suggest that the child may have been illegitimate though. I guess I'd have to order the birth/death certificate to confirm that.

[Gibel]

The birth date is 3 May 1908. As the child dies young it is very likely that he was poorly all his life and was too ill to be taken to church for baptism. The other possibility is that he hadn't been baptised and was very ill and was baptised at home shortly before he died. He dies in the September Quarter 1908 so it could have been shortly after the baptism.

[Plastique]

I've ordered a copy of the birth certificate on the off-chance that these are my relatives, although there's nothing in the family "oral tradition" (which admittedly is vague) about the child in question having died in infancy.

Any other tips as to how one might go about tracking down an illegitimate birth if you only know the mother's name and approximate date and place of birth? I understand the child was usually registered under the mother's surname  - which in this case is a very common name, unfortunately.

[barryd]

The only possibility is that the father's name is a Roland Brian .......?

[Plastique]

I have a few conjectures as to who the father might have been, but the names "Roland Brian" are not the current list of suspects.