Informal adoption practice 1900 - guidance please

[Macdarrach]

My grandfather was born in 1900. After he died in 1970, I found his birth certificate which showed that he was illegimate and that he was born with a different surname (his mother's with no father stated). However, my surname and the one my grandfather was known by all his life, was shown as a forename. A family told me that the mother died in childbirth and that his 'father' took responsibility for him. I now find this to be incorrect - his mother lived on, married and had her own family. I suspect that my grandfather was informally adopted and that an arrangement was made (possibly via third parties) that when my grandfather was born his mother would register him with the forename which is my surname. My 'great-grandfather' married in his early 30's a widow of the same age who had no children and possibly could not have any. I suspect that because of this, they decided to informally adopt in this way. They only married a month before my grandfather was born. Is this scenario a likely possibility - sorry for being so convoluted!!!

[Anne H]

Hi Macdarrach,

Welcome to TalkingScot.

In my experience, you quite often find that an illegitimate child is given the father's surname as a middle name...a possible little clue as to who the father might be and the mother's maiden name as a surname. I think you would be right in thinking it was an informal adoption, I can't remember when formal adoption came to be but I'm sure someone will be along soon to enlighten you.

Regards,
Anne H

[AndrewP]

I can't remember when formal adoption came to be but I'm sure someone will be along soon to enlighten you.

The adoption register in the General Register Office for Scotland was started in 1930, and has no references to any people born before 1909.

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files2/f ... let-s1.pdf

All the best,

AndrewP

[joette]

Where was he in the 1901 census & who was he living with?What name was he going by? This should help to answer a few questions.

I have a few rellies where the paternal grandparents looked after the child until such time as either parent married.It was more usual for maternal Grandparents to take responsibility for illegitimate off-spring.
Most went with the Mother but I have a few who went with Father & subsequent Wife(not the birth Mother).

I have even one who gets two women pregnant at the same time marries one & takes the other baby into the household-both have the same first name too!

[Montrose Budie]

Hi Macdarrach

The situation you describe sounds quite likely, with one exception that I’ll come to in a minute.

In the era involved it was very common for an illegitimate child to be given the father’s surname as a middle name.

Most often the mother made the registration on her own, or sometimes it was a grandparent or sibling or aunt/uncle.

The father’s full name and details could only appear on the register if he also turned up for the act of registration, when that was permitted, and he was allowed to sign his name alongside the mother. It could well have been the case for many fathers that it was impractical in terms of getting time off work to do this.

In order to prove paternity it wasn’t unusual for the mother to take an action in the Sheriff Court. If this was successful there will be an annotation on the original register entry referring to an RCE (Register of Corrected Entries) entry giving the relevant details of the father. This court action would often be funded by the parish to avoid the child (and mother) becoming a charge on the parish.

The lack of such a court action most likely means that someone else was providing the necessary financial support.

While the child’s middle name in such a situation is most often that of the father, it can occasionally be the maiden name of a grandmother, or some other family name.

On occasion there may not even be such a blood connection. If, for example, I came across John Ladysmith SMITH in 1900/01, I would be unlikely to go looking for Mr LADYSMITH ! ; but if I came across a John Gordon SMITH in 1885 or 1886, how could I distinguish between a local Mr GORDON, and the hero of Khartoum, General GORDON? (and if you want to get really wildly speculative, maybe the wain’s faither wis a sojer who was killed at Khartoum!).

The only detail where I’d differ on the scenario you have very nicely described is the extent of the influence, if any, of the father on the use of his surname as the kid’s middle name. It was the mother’s decision when she registered the birth, and if he chose not to be there……… if he was so interested in the child and its name then why didn't he accompany the mother to the registrar's office?.

Where such kids weren’t adopted by a completely different family, it’s quite common to find them being looked after by other family members, grandparents etc., and switching to the household of their father later on; with no rules as to what surname they used, - once they were of a suitable age to make up their own mind it was their choice.

Scots Law has always been that, as long as there is no criminal intent involved, you can call yourself whatever you like (although that can cause endless problems with government agencies, banks, etc., etc., these days!).

Where a woman had had an illegitimate child and then married another man, she would either keep quiet about the illegitimate child, or some men would refuse to take on the responsibility, so that the child remained with the other family members.

mb

Later PS I've just realised that the above assumes that everybody knows that it's never been the case in Scotland at least, that the registrar has the power to demand to know the name of the father of an illegitimate child. That may change in a forthcoming amending Acts.

PPS If you currently request an extract of a birth record ('certificate') in which the original register clearly states 'illegitimate' you will receive a typed or hand written copy which omits the word 'illegitimate'. The digitised image on ScotlandsPeople, of course, does, as it shows the original entry in the Register Book of Births.

I'd need to check on the exact year, but the word 'illegitimate' stopped being used on birth register entries some time in the early 1900s.

mb