Bastardy quarter sessions BELL

[MaryA]

I've also heard that often the mother would approach the court and a Bastardy Bond produced because if later she approached the "Parish" for assistance then they would want to know why the father wasn't giving any support. 

Also the child was often baptised so that it became a member of the community.  Again, if later they were not members of that parish they could have been sent back to the parish they belonged to, thus Removal Orders.

This is probably a very simplified way of explaining things, but is how I understand it, maybe somebody knows the ins and outs a bit better, but that's the way it appeared to me when I came across this.

So baptisms are well worth searching for, but also the Access to Archives site http://www.a2a.org.uk/ where I found the Filiation Order, as it was called, by searching with the mother's name, not the childs.

Mary

[Roobarb]

Thanks for all the information everyone. Yes Sue, I do mean the little green booklet, your information about that is very interesting. William's mother was Julia Bell and she is listed in the censuses as living with her mother in Topsham after William was born so it doesn't look as if she was left to her own devices. Julia herself was born in Topsham. She later married but obviously not to William's father as he is listed in later censuses as stepson. William became a Methodist lay preacher when he grew up, not sure if that would provide any clues. I think I will take your advice Sue and write to the register office in Exeter. 

[susanmary]

Sorry, I was jumping to conclusions on this one.  When you said that William was born in Exeter, I thought you were talking about the city of Exeter. If Julia's place of settlement was Topsham, which was in St Thomas poor law union, her son would have been born in the St Thomas workhouse, not the Exeter one. In that case, he could have been baptised in St Thomas parish church. The Exeter Registrar would have a record of his birth though. Birth records for what was St Thomas registration district are now split between Newton Abbot, Honiton and Exeter Register Offices, which makes things extra complicated if you don't know the area very well.

Sue

[Roobarb]

William's birthplace was listed on the censuses as Exeter but his mother's was listed as Topsham so I thought that he must have been born in the city of Exeter. As you can see, I don't know the area at all, it's a long way from the frozen North where they eventually came to work! I have looked at information on the area and it looks as though Topsham is part of the greater Exeter area. A very lovely part of the world too by the look of the photos. 

[susanmary]

Here you go .....

William James, son of Julia Bell of the workhouse, was baptised at St Thomas parish church on 27th July 1857.   

Sue

[Roobarb]

Oh Sue, thank you so much, thats wonderful! I didn't know he had a middle name either so that's some extra information. Many thanks.