just been googling and found a woman who may be in my tree being sentenced for Bastardly 3 months then a year didnt realise this happened ? was it common ? thanks
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Women tried for Bastardly??
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Yes, both men and women could be tried and imprisoned for Bastardy - but guess who most often was, lol.
I think it fell out of favour after the Union Poor Law Act was passed (1835) because it was then no longer the responsibility of the parish to support everyone born there.
It wasn't primarily the immorality of bastardy which bothered the parish officials, it was a determination to find out who was personally responsible for the financial burden of the child.
OC
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Sometimes the women took their babies with them to prison, other times they were left in the Poor House, or farmed out to a wet nurse.
If a woman had friends, and had her wits about her, then the baby could be brought to her in prison to feed.
It was all a bit daft, really. Reading between the lines (which may only exist in my imagination, lol) it was only the flagrantly immoral or brazen married woman who were picked on, more for their civil disobedience than anything else. And possibly a pert refusal to name the father would inflame the local worthies who took themselves perhaps a little too seriously.
OC
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