Odd Marriage Certificate

[SouthseaSteel]

Lily was born in 1884 (an "exact" date is given in the 1939 War Register) and took the surname of her mother.  I can't locate her BC but her baptism certificate (transcript only) doesn't give a father.

She then appears in the 1891 and 1901 censuses living with her mother and her mother's parents i.e. Lily's maternal grandparents, with no father or such like mentioned.

However, on her 1907 marriage certificate, her father is clearly listed as her uncle i.e. her mother's brother, who lived in the same village and had by then married and had had subsequent children.  This man had a very distinctive unique name.  He is also down as one of the marriage witnesses.

Could this uncle, who was 14 years older than his sister, had been some kind of proxy father to Lily and Lily wanted to reflect this publically at the time or what!!!!!  Surely, this cant be what I immediately thought it was, being acted out so publically - even for 1884.

I add that Lily's mother was 16 years old when Lily was born and she had no more children as far as I can see.

I am very intrigued to say the least.

Any suggestions or comments welcome.

[Jebber]

I have several like that in both my tree and my husband’s.

It was quite common to name a male relative or even completely fictitious man as the father on a marriage certificate, it was simply to avoid the embarrassment of illegitimacy.

[CaroleW]

Illegitimacy in those days was not as acceptable as now.  As Jebber says - fictitious fathers were given on marriage certs to lend "respectability" to the couple.

[Zaphod99]

I read once, which means I can't provide a citation, that mothers would often give the surname of an absent father to the child as a middle name to indicate that the mother knew who the father was, even if the father wasn't going to admit it.

However, there are many other reasons why a child might have an unusual middle name, so it didn't always work.

Zaph

[SouthseaSteel]

Thanks all.  Yes, i have see many instances of folks using evidently false names under the father column. Further, as Zaphod mentions, these names can be variants of the actual father if known to the person getting married.  I had a recent quite modern example where an illegitimate bride had detailed her father using her own surname but his actual two quite unusual given names and an Occupation that was so detailed, with location, that she may have as well stuck a picture a picture of him on the certificate!!  BTW, the chap was married to somebody else and had another family two streets away.  DNA bore all this out!!

But going back to my original post, was it the case that listing your uncle as your father and openly implying your parents were brother and sister, was considered more acceptable than being illegitimate!!! Very strange times indeed!!!

[CaroleW]

I have seen posts where grandfathers or brothers have been shown as the brides father.   Also - not just in the females.  Not unusual for the groom to lie about his fathers name

No proof of paternity was needed by the vicar - they just asked fathers name & occupation.

[Milliepede]

I doubt she thought about the implications of putting an Uncles name down, just having a male father figure on the certificate.

[Milliepede]

I can't locate her BC

What was her surname and where was she born?

[SouthseaSteel]

I doubt she thought about the implications of putting an Uncles name down, just having a male father figure on the certificate.

I agree!!! Her eldest uncle too