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  1. #1
    Brick wall demolition expert!
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    Default Why the baptismal distiction ?

    On one page of the parish register for the parish of Rudbaxton, Pembrokeshire covering the the period 1814 / 1815 there are several illegitimate children baptised. The register is in the pre-printed format and each entry appears to have been made and signed by the same person. There is however an inconsistent approach to the entries which are set out below and I would be interested to hear what people think:

    28 Oct 1814 James son of Anne Lewis, abode : Raith profession : servant

    15 Nov 1814 Elizabeth bastard daughter of Elizabeth Lewis, abode : Ramswood profession : servant

    16 April 1815 Harriet bastard daughter of Mary Griffiths also a servant

    Finaĺly there is one other girl whose name is illegible who is also referred to as a bastard and whose mother was also a servant.

    My initial thought was he must have been a misogynist but the pages either side and found examples of boys described as bastard and girls not so described. So is this just inconsistency or something else?

  2. #2
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    Default

    What you have shown is just the standard way a parish register is written based on what the incumbent knew about them.
    To make any assumptions you would really have to study as many pages as possible including a number before he took over.
    Cheers
    Guy
    As we have gained from the past, we owe the future a debt, which we pay by sharing today.

  3. #3
    Brick wall demolition expert!
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    Default

    Thanks for the reply Guy, but the pre printed parish register starts in 1813 and before that its very much the handwritten ill-ordered version, so quite difficult to draw conclusions from before 1813.

    This particular priest was the incumbent for many years after the dates - I gone as far forward as 1825, and he has carried on this apparently inconsistent practise, although in one case he referred to one such daughter as "illegitimate" in 1816 rather than "bastard", and in 1819 when there were such boys baptised and both referred to as "bastard", one subsequently had that labelled scribbled out, but whether that was by the same priest or a later one, that is impossible to tell.

    I also checked a couple of adjacent parishes and they seem to have their own approaches. For instance in one I found a couple of instances of baptisms taking place of boys who were the reputed sons of named men, but their mothers were not listed.

    So when you say "What you have shown is just the standard way a parish register is written based on what the incumbent knew about them." I am unsure what you mean by 'the standard way'. Where were these standards set down?

  4. #4
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    Yes the Act for the better regulating and preserving Parish and other Registers of Births, Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, in England [28th July 1812.] required the use of a printed register as soon as possible after the passing of the Act.

    By standard I meant common practice, bastard was the legal definition and incumbents commonly used other expressions to show their displeasure for the lady concerned - base, baseborn, illegitimate, (Yes that used to be a dire insult) spurious, by-blow, natural, love-child, love-begotten, misbegotten, chance begot, chance child, merrily begotten, merrybegot, begotten in fornication, a by-blow, child of shame, lovechild, misbegotten, a scape-begotten child, whoreson, child of a harlot.

    In Latin there are filius nullius (son of none), filius populi (son of the people), filius meretricis (son of a prostitute).

    Cheers
    Guy
    As we have gained from the past, we owe the future a debt, which we pay by sharing today.

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