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Archiver > SCT-BANFFSHIRE > 2005-01 > 1105379370


From: Erica Waddell <>
Subject: Re: [Banff] Illegitimacy
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 09:49:30 -0800
References: <002001c4f4ea$6f99ede0$0100007f@default><03b801c4f508$bb65f020$0401a8c0@LAPTOP>


Ray wrote:

>I think you'll find
> that if the parents weren't formally married with a certificate then the
> Registrar had to put "illegitimate" on the birth cert. In fact they
> STILL HAVE TO DO THIS [in England & Wales, at least], even when the
> relationship is very long term. Given the "stigma" some pious people
> link to this, I think it's about time this archaic old word was dropped.
> Of the young couples we know, well over half are not married but the
> proportion of the couples who separate doesn't seem to depend on formal
> marriage or not.

Not true (at least in London) in my experience. Both our children were born
before we were formally married, though we had long been 'common-law'. In
neither case (the latest in 2001), nor in the experience of any other
English common law parents we know, was illegitimacy ever mentioned when
registering the births. The only requirement I remember was that both
parents needed to be present unless they were formally married. Not sure
about Wales.

I, too, seem to have a larger number of illegitimate births in my family in
Banff and Moray than I do in Argyll or Lanark. Were they more strict about
these things? (These are all 19th century cases).

Erica




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