legitimising a child in 19th century

[samatk]

if a child was born before his parents married would he have become legitimate at the date of the marriage in the 19th century?

an ancestor was born 2 years before his parents were married (his dad was named on the birth cert) but when he himself married he left his father's details off the marriage certificate...why?

[c-side]

Hi there,

The answer to the first part of your question is no, the child would not be made legitimate when the parents married.  That is a fairly recent thing.

I learned this on TV just last week - either Heir Hunters or WDYTYA - and if my memory was still in working order I'd know which 

Christine

[Greensleeves]

Hi

The Legitimacy Act of 1926 made it possible for children born outside wedlock to be legitimised by the subsequent marriage of their parents, provided at the time the child was conceived, its parents were not married to other partners.    So it would appear that anyone born earlier than 1926 would remain illegitimate despite the parents' subsequent marriage.

Regards,
Greensleeves

[maryd]

Did that Act just apply to us commoners then? It seems fairly well documented that the illegitimate children of John of Gaunt by Katherine Swynford were legitimised (?) on their subsequent marriage in 1300s....and were acknowledged as such by the current King and Pope.....? What happened about posthumous children during WWI? I thought there was something that covered that eventuality too??
maryd

[c-side]

There's a lot of legal water gone under the bridge since 1300.  I would think that if the King and the Pope said it was OK, nobody back then was going to argue!

Posthumous children - do you mean children born after the death of their fathers?  If the father had been married to the mother then it would be legitimate anyway.

Christine

[maidmarion]

I seem to recall that when my daughter was born in the 1980s, I was told I could have a "new" certificate for her if my partner and I married in the very near future as there was a short time scale on this.
 

[Raphael]

Hi

The Legitimacy Act of 1926 made it possible for children born outside wedlock to be legitimised by the subsequent marriage of their parents, provided at the time the child was conceived, its parents were not married to other partners.    So it would appear that anyone born earlier than 1926 would remain illegitimate despite the parents' subsequent marriage.

Regards,
Greensleeves

Hello all and Greensleevs.
I have read with great interest all the posts. However my first wifes mother had an illigitimate child in 1929. The fathers name was blank and and her occupation was"field worker" in a rural area.  The father was unknown.
This was brought to light when I was doing my family tree some 50 years years later.
On receiving the Certificate, the GRO informed me that there existed a later Certificate, issued under the Legitimecy Act of "1924"

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1924/feb/21/legitimacy-bill-hl#S5LV0056P0_19240221_HOL_10

She married in 1930 to a completely different man and he (my father in-law to be) the child was given his name. There was a handwritten note re the ACT. on the later Certificate.

It has been a very interesting experience in this rural area gettting the rest of the Certs for her family, and several other relatives had only the mothers surname.  In the late 1940's there was a prisoner of war camp in this rural area, and some of the later children were of German & Italian origin..naturally they... were allowed to also be Field Workers. on the large
acrerage, owned by a former Lord and now an Heritage Site.
Regards to all,
Raphael
UK & Germany. :-))

[Guy Etchells]

many of the relevant Acts are on my web site at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~framland/acts/actind.htm
Cheers
Guy

[samatk]

thanks folks  this explains perhaps why herbert left his dad's details off his marriage cert..