Court/Maintenance Records 1920s/30

[Halliday1986]

I'm looking for some help regarding a case from the 1920s /1930s

The case is to do with the illegitimacy of a child. An ancestor of mine was born out of wedlock and she tells me that her mother took the biological father to court, possibly in Lincoln, in order to prove he was the father and for him to contribute to her upbringing. Would these type of cases have happened in the 1920s/30s? The father is not named on the birth certificate so would the mother have been able to take him to court? I don't see how the mother would have been to prove other wise as there was no DNA testing etc then? Would anyone be able to tell me where i should be looking for records regarding such a case?
I'm also told the father was a bigamist, if this is the case is there any where else I could search for him?
I really am stumped and it's been a big question in my family for years, so any help will be much appreciated!

[Peter Goodey]

Would these type of cases have happened in the 1920s/30s?

Yes


The father is not named on the birth certificate so would the mother have been able to take him to court?

Yes


Would anyone be able to tell me where i should be looking for records regarding such a case?


Petty Sessions. You need to know where the mother was living to get the right court. Surviving records will be at Lincolnshire Archives. The Register of Summons Issued would be good to start with. They aren't very informative but are relatively easy to scan through to get the date. Then you could go to the Daily Minute Books to extract more detail. However, how you tackle it really depends on what records are available.

Alternatively, or additionally, the local press may have something. Such cases were usually reported especially if they gave their readers something to tut-tut at.

The book My Ancestor was a Bastard (obtainable from Parish Chest) has details and suggested research stratgeies

[Halliday1986]

Thanks, I'll have a look on Monday at the archives. The mother was living in Boston, Lincolnshire - would I need a specific address?
Your advice is much appreciated

[bibliojunkie]

Hello Halliday. I've sent you a PM.

Ali

[Peter Goodey]

The mother was living in Boston, Lincolnshire - would I need a specific address?


Boston would be enough. If it was London, say, you would need to know the borough.

[Halliday1986]

Ali-
Darn. What I'm really looking for is the first name of the father in question. My ancestor's middle name is Dunne/Dunn which was the surname of the father. She believes his first name might have been James, but is not sure. If I could find his first name and perhaps where he was from I might be available to find his identity.
That's interesting that they could determine the father by witnesses, that gives me some hope that the case may have passed through the courts and therefore been recorded some where. If he was deemed to be the father would he have been order to contribute to her upbringing? If so would there have been a recording of this contribution?

All the best,
Helen

Thank you for taking the time to message me!

[bibliojunkie]

Any paternity determination and contribution order should be recorded on court files. I agree with Peter's advice that you contact the Lincolnshire Archives to see what they have.

Regards, Ali

[Halliday1986]

Eventually got down to the Archives yesterday. I needed to look at the minute book for Boston's Quarter Sessions but they haven't been catalogued yet so I need to request an archivist to have a look which I will do this week. Fingers crossed they will find the people I am searching for.
I did however find an ancestor of mine had been arrested for pinching a silk neckerchief so that was nice! :)
Will let you know if I have any success with the bastardy case

[bibliojunkie]

Fingers crossed for you Helen!

Ali

[Marie C..]

Hi,
The baptism register for your ancestor might be of interest as sometimes the entry of an illigitimate child might read," William Dunne Bloggs illigitimate son of Mary Bloggs and Horace Dunne". Some vicars were quite nasty with their wording but such an entry would mean the alleged father of the child was admitting it was his.
Marie