Adoption In the Past

[BBBAZZA]

Is it possible to trace the parents of an ancestor that was adopted in the 1800s.

[KGarrad]

Welcome to Rootshat!

Formal, legal, adoption only came into force on 1st January 1927.
Before that time, most adoptions were informal, and no records will have been kept.

[stanmapstone]

As has been said the 1926 Adoption Act which came into effect 1st January 1927 was the first Act legalising adoptions. Prior to that children were just handed over with mainly a verbal agreement and, at best, a declaration setting out the child's change of identity was drawn up by a solicitor, but it was by no means a legally binding document. Adoption was viewed as an essentially private arrangement between the parties concerned. The term "adopted" generally included fostering and guardianship.

Stan

[a-l]

Have you searched for the person amongst your family incase he/she was taken in by relatives ?

[Trishanne]

My mother was adopted in the early 1900s, before the adoption act came into force. She was adopted within the family and we always knew her by the name of Garnett the surname of her adopted parents and this is the name shown on the 1911 census.  However on her wedding and death certificates she is named as Hoggarth, her birth surname.