I've purchased the will of Charles Lennox Butler but there is no mention of Robert Hastings Smith in it - so no way of making the connection between father/illegitimate son there.
Can anyone direct me on "Bastard Laws" in the UK here?
So far, here's the link between CLB and RHS as I understand it:
1. Charles Lennox Butler (CLB) is listed as the father on RHS's death certificate in 1901 (with a hand-written notation adjacent to the entry saying "correct")
2. RHS names his oldest son Charles Lennox Smith (and his youngest daughter Charlotte Butler Smith)
3. RHS has at least one (and possibly multiple) trips back to England during his lifetime, and
4. RHS apparently has a "pension" given to him through Meads Solicitors that ends in 1885 the time of Charles Lennox Butler's death (I haven't seen proof of this - just read about it on the rootschat thread).
All of these links do point to the veracity of Charles Lennox Butler being Robert Hasting Smith's father but is "circumstantial".
Any thoughts anyone? - seeing as the will of CLB offers no proof.