Bastardy records.

[Blue70]

Here's a link from Manchester City Council about the Petty Sessions court records and how to go about accessing them, "Petty sessions courts met daily and dealt with minor crimes, licensing, juvenile offenders and civil matters such as bastardy, child maintenance and adoption.":-

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/448/archives_and_local_history/7382/court_records/5


Blue

[Thornbird4]

Hi

Many thanks for replies.

My grandmother had told her three daughters that their father (Charles Vickers) had died in 1925, three months before my mother was born.  I have his death certificate which shows he actually died in 1918 before any of the girls were born.  She had told Teresa shortly before she died that she had to unburden herself and admitted that Charles was not their father.   I have all three girls birth certificates with just a line through the father's name.  My mother's baptism certificate also has no father mentioned on it.   I think the same man is the father of all three girls but cannot be sure.   My grandmother came from a strict catholic family and we had wondered if the father was Jewish as she was disowned by her family. 

Winifred is still alive and would love to know who her father was as I would love to know who my grandfather was and why she never married him.   

Thank you so much for the link you sent.  I will try them.

Many thanks again.

[Blue70]

If the couple had an arrangement they would not have had to resort to the court. If it's the same man for each child it will probably be an arrangement out of court but there's nothing lost in looking for court records. If you can't get a volunteer and can't get there the council might have a research service.

Good luck,

Blue

[willyam]

There is a Shaw Family tree in Ancestry, owned by shawzend, that (nominally at least) identifies the father of Teresa, Winifred & Mary as a William Wolfenden.

shawzend appears to be currently active and may, hopefully, be able to respond positively to you & Winifred.

Willyam

[willyam]

Catherine,

I fear that your pursuit of "bastardy records" will prove fruitless! I say this because I initially followed a similar line of inquiry in respect of the unknown father of my late mother (born in 1925) & her brother (b.1923).

However it soon became apparent (to me, at least) that they were born out of an ongoing & supportive relationship - which explained why my grandmother did not formally pursue my grandfather for financial support (nor did she seek any charitable assistance). Simply put, he was still married and thus unable to marry her - as I believe he would otherwise have done.

The spacing of the timings of the births of your mother & her sisters suggests to me a similar scenario and so, with this in mind, I feel that you might be better off redirecting your inquiry along the following lines.

You have said that you have the 3 birth certificates which means you already have a wealth of valuable information. Each certificate will contain the addresses of both the place of birth and the mother's usual place of residence at that time.

Are any of these addresses the same from certificate to certificate? Have you checked these addresses against the contemporary electoral registers?

Unless the address for the usual place of residence is an institution or a lodging house (or similar), although your grandmother might not feature on the relevant electoral registers you may still be able to extrapolate from them the name of the probable father.

Willyam

[Thornbird4]

Hi Willyam

Thank you for your very informative  post.  I believe you are right in that my search will prove fruitless.   

My mother's Birth Certificate has place of birth as 123 Crescent Road, Crumpsall which I believe is the infirmary attached to the workhouse.  My grandmother was not an inmate there as her address is 101 Back Cropper Street but I believe she had a difficult pregnancy with my mother who was very late and came out weighing a massive 10lb!    Do you know if there are any infirmary records from 1925 which could provide any further information? 

Kind regards.