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Paternity by decree

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  • Paternity by decree

    I thought you might be interested in an image from a Scottish Register of Corrected Entries (RCE), assigning paternity to an illegitimate child. It goes on at some length.

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    Last edited by Uncle John; 08-10-08, 14:21.
    Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

  • #2
    Remarkable!

    Thanks for sharing it.

    Christine
    Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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    • #3
      UJ

      That is really interesting, thankyou.

      How refreshing to see that the woman's word was considered sufficient when a man did not turn up to deny paternity.

      I have seen this happen in court, but NEVER seen a registrar take it upon himself. Perhaps Scottish Law was different from English?

      EDIT Ignore me - just seen it was the Sherriff who ordered the amendment, lol!

      OC

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      • #4
        The mother's two sisters (one of whom is my OH's ancestor) also had children out of wedlock. No such luck with her son in the birth register, though he had a complete change of name between censuses. Fortunately his mother moved to the same area and the names match up in the later censuses.

        He's born as James Inglis Douglas (Douglas and Inglis being his grandparents' surnames) but morphs into John Leishman for the rest of his life. I assume that his unnamed father was a Leishman but I haven't located him.
        Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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        • #5
          Or how about this entry under the "parents" for a birth in 1903:

          Father: John Jackson (Steel Worker).
          Mother:Janet Smith, wife of Robert Green (Cooper) who she declares is not the father of the child and further that she has had no personal intercourse with him since she left him in Liverpool three years ago.

          (Surnames have been changed to protect the innocent!!)

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          • #6
            I recently obtained a Birth Certificate for Jane Steel, b 1845. Her mother was Jennet Richardson and her father is shown as George Steel. There is no indication on the certificate that Jennet and George were married and, in fact, the signs are that they were not, with Jennet Richardson also shown in that name as the Informant. I should say that I have not found any marriage for Jennet and George either.

            Jennet married my 3xgt grandfather, William Weatherburn, in 1857 as Janet Richardson, Spinster, becoming his second wife.
            In the 1861 census, all three are in Berwick with some of William's children from his first marriage and Jane R Steel, 16yrs, shown as Stepdaughter.
            In due course, Jane Richardson Steel married her stepbrother, Robert Weatherburn, and one of their children was named George Steel Weatherburn.

            Jane clearly knew who her father was but in registering her birth, Jennet/Janet either had a sympathetic Registrar or was a very persuasive woman.


            Merleyone

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            • #7
              Merleyone

              The father may have gone to registration with the mother.

              Otherwise, there was a short period of confusion amongst Registrars, who did put the name of the reputed father on the cert, even if he did not attend registration.

              OC

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              • #8
                Does anyone know what the HCG means...... scrawled across the bottom.

                I have this on a cert of mine also in Stirling and looks as though it was written by the exact same hand.

                I'll have to look go and have a look at it.

                UJ... Does Adam Steele's handwriting annoy you as much as it annoys me?? :D
                With Experience comes Realisation

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                • #9
                  I think HCG are someone's initials, Shaz, because if you look at the example birth RCE that they have on Scotland's People, it has a date and different initials at the bottom, again dated about a year after the date of the document. As for why it had to be initialled by somebody a year later, I have no idea!
                  KiteRunner

                  Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                  (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by BigShaz McCreadie View Post
                    UJ... Does Adam Steele's handwriting annoy you as much as it annoys me?? :D
                    Who is Adam Steele? The registrar that did this RCE seems to be named Knox.
                    Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Uncle John View Post
                      Who is Adam Steele? The registrar that did this RCE seems to be named Knox.
                      Sorry UJ I assumed (wrongly) that you may have come across him in your research.... he was the registrar in Stirling for many years and has the most atrocious handwriting. Not the worst I have ever seen but not the best either.

                      Kite.... I still have to look at the cert that I have with the exact same HCG in the same hand. I will do that now actually
                      With Experience comes Realisation

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                      • #12
                        Well I looked at it and it was 1868 and the registrar was Adam Steele but the correction is made in the first column in different handwriting and HCG is scrawled beneath it in what looks like the same handwriting as the one on UJ's document.

                        Strange thing is my cert isn't in the RCE's it appears to have just had a correction made on it
                        With Experience comes Realisation

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                        • #13
                          Shaz

                          I think a correction can be made to the certificate if it hasn't left the office, without having to record it as a corrected entry, just initialled by another registrar or clerk in the office.

                          Bit like bookkeeping - you can correct an error in the month it occurs, before you've taken a final balance, but once you have done the month end figures, any c orrections have to go through the books and recorded as an error.

                          So if the Registrar wrote John instead of James and realised his mistake immediately, he could alter it and just initial it (with a witness). If the parent came back the next day though, the entry would have to be officially amended via the corrections book.

                          OC

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                          • #14
                            OC

                            I guessed it may be something like that.

                            Still puzzled as to who HCG is though as he obviously isn't Adam Steele or Mr Knox. I wonder if he was someone of higher authourity who maybe had to check things over or did HCG stand for something else.

                            The cert of mine with HCG on is a death cert and the correction didn't even had to be made... it all seems pointless on mine ..lol
                            With Experience comes Realisation

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                            • #15
                              I didn't mention at the outset that the original birth register entry had the RCE details in the left-hand margin. The RCE entry wasn't linked on SP as they usually are, so I emailed brightsolid. I got a very nice email from a lady at GROS, attaching the image you see.
                              Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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                              • #16
                                Originally posted by Uncle John View Post
                                I didn't mention at the outset that the original birth register entry had the RCE details in the left-hand margin. The RCE entry wasn't linked on SP as they usually are, so I emailed brightsolid. I got a very nice email from a lady at GROS, attaching the image you see.
                                Hmmmm thats interesting to know....

                                Only problem is the correction on mine has been made in the margin (not the first column as previously stated :o ) but there are no RCE details written in. No page or Volume number so I'm guessing that mine really didn't make it into the register.
                                With Experience comes Realisation

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