Illegitimacy

[SaRun4519]

Does anyone know about stats re: domestic servants and their illeg children being fathered by someone in their employer's family?

Sr

[benny1982]

Hi

It wasn't always someone in the employers family or the employer. A male servant may have got a female servant pregnant if they worked in the same house or one of them worked there part time, ie one had positions at different houses.

Ben

[Colin Rowledge]

Hi

It wasn't always someone in the employers family or the employer. A male servant may have got a female servant pregnant if they worked in the same house or one of them worked there part time, ie one had positions at different houses.

Ben

I agree with you.

One of my rellie's was a house servant and a live-in ag.lab. on the farm 'had his way'. The farmer found out and in order for both to keep their jobs on the farm and in the house, they married a month after the birth.

Colin

[benny1982]

I agree with you.

One of my rellie's was a house servant and a live-in ag.lab. on the farm 'had his way'. The farmer found out and in order for both to keep their jobs on the farm and in the house, they married a month after the birth.

Colin

Some may have even taken to the farm milkman. |jumphappy|laugh1|

Seriously though, a lot of menservants were footmen and coachmen and one footman may have drove to several houses if their employers visited friends, relatives or business partners. They drove them round and if a footman drove his employers to a certain posh house say twice a month he may have been in contact with a female servant who worked there all the time and got her pregnant on one of his visits.

You cannot be quick to draw conclusions that a female servant got pregnant by the employer or one of their relatives in the house. If so, I think a scandal would leak. Often a female servant fell pregnant by a male servant, not always a rich squire.

If two servants did have a relationship which lead to pregnancy they would often end up with the sack.