were they illagitamate

[oldhippyone]

my fault i should of said county durham ,

[CarolA3]

No worries

It seems to me that the registrar's job was simply to record such information as was required by law.  The England/Wales birth certificate didn't have a question about 'legitimacy' or the mother's marital status, so the registrar couldn't record anything even if he would have liked to.

(He was, of course, at liberty to have an opinion as a private individual - and we can imagine him grumbling and muttering over his supper ...............)

Carol

[oldhippyone]

i would of loved to have found the father of her 7 children befor she married , but its like wishing to win the lottery , .... something which will never happen !

[modem]

If a Miss Smith turned up to register a birth calling herself Mrs Smith and saying the father, not present, was Mr Smith would she get away with it? This is assuming that Miss Smith was not known to the Registry Office staff.

I have examples of "made up" father's names being entered on marriage certificates so seems not an problem there.

[oldhippyone]

from what iv read hear the father would have to be present at the registration !!!! but if she said she was smith then registrar would have to accept that unless when you registerd a birth you had to have proof of identity !!!!

[stanmapstone]

The civil registration system is "informant driven" that is the registrar can only record the information given to him by the informant, although there is the liability, in the registration acts, to a charge of perjury if any of the required details are willfully incorrect, although that would have to be proved.
You can see a number of convictions for giving false information to the Registrar respecting a birth at http://www.rootschat.com/links/01eui/ 
Stan

[oldhippyone]

thats interesting i dint know that thanks

[modem]

stanmapstone - thanks.

I find this a fascinating topic and I do wonder how many illegitimate births were in fact registered as legitimate and further, given the alleged stigma attached, why so many were registered as illegitimate. I don't believe that people were more law abiding in the past (read the newspapers and Church Courts/Poor Law records etc) and would, if they thought they could get away with it, break the law to save face.

Maybe the widespread belief about fallen daughters being shown the door or bringing shame upon the family is wrong? Certainly the girls who had illegitimate children in my family were not and went on to marry and have families. They lived in small villages/towns so their past would not have been a secret.

[oldhippyone]

yes i agree emma was living in chester le street a small place then but i wounder if they were so destitute that she had to become a working girl to live , like i said i will never find out but ti,es were hard then and i know you had to do anything to survive