Bastardy bonds

[JamieS]

I have a question about the Records Office catolague. If I search the online catalogue and come up with nothing, does that mean that they have no bastardy papers on file or just that the records possibly haven't been recorded online yet? Hate to pay for a search only to find out all records are in the catalogue.

[Kerrywood]

I have a question about the Records Office catolague. If I search the online catalogue and come up with nothing, does that mean that they have no bastardy papers on file or just that the records possibly haven't been recorded online yet?

It's more than likely that they have material which is not name-indexed in the online catalogue. Many record offices have supplementary indexes of this kind.

However, bastardy bonds generally belong to the pre-1834 period. Is this where your interests are? If they are later than this, you're probably looking for an affiliation order instead, normally found with court sessions records rather than with poor law records.

I suggest you contact the record office, tell them what your specific interest is, and ask them what they have that might help you.

Hate to pay for a search only to find out all records are in the catalogue.

That sort of general query is normally answered free of charge. Once you find out what their holdings are, you can decide if you want to pay for research.

[JamieS]

That's good to know. We'll have to check into that. We're looking for around 1878-1879. Hopefully the Records Office will find something.

[Kerrywood]

We're looking for around 1878-1879.

If this is the case of the 'Housemaid and the Viscount' that you've posted elsewhere on the forum, I think you're unlikely to find an affiliation order. If by any chance this man was the father, and if by any chance he admitted liability, any financial arrangement is far more likely to have been a private agreement.

That said, of course it doesn't hurt to look.

[JamieS]

Yes, I'm sure it will be a long shot, but who knows. We're still just speculating on the family at the moment. The only facts that we've found so far to back up the story is that the girl's occupation listed on the baby's birth record was listed as Domestic Servant. Even if the story is true and we are connected to this family, there's a possibility that the father never even knew. On the 1881 census he was 21, in the military and lodging over 100 mi away in Wargrave.