Illegitimacy 18th century gentry

[wildwitch]

Hi
I am currently researching an ancestor who was a member of the landed gentry (esquire). He inherited his impoverished estates at the age of 36 in 1748 from his parents, when he was still unmarried. Indeed it seems he never married at all. In 1756 his son (and heir) was born, but the baptism has not yet been found. His only other child, a daughter was born in 1764. Her baptism clearly shows her to be illegitimate, she was recorded as his daughter and the mother had a completely different surname and there is no mention of wife. It appears he had a mistress by this stage. Letters have survivd that later show that she must indeed have been the mother of both of his children. He made his will in 1776 and refers to her not as his wife (indeed he never mentioned a wife) but as Mrs and by the name previously recorded at the daughters baptism and he adds the comment 'To Mrs...who currently lives and resides with me' The woman in question died in 1788 and was buried as his wife, even though there is no trace of any marriage. Indeed a letter from the time period shows that she was well respected amongst his friends and that her daughter nursed her. He died in 1789 and left his estate to his son and made a substantial bequest (£10000) to his daughter too. Now my question really is how does a member of the gentry get away with having a mistress and then manages to leave the estate to his illegitimate children? I thought as illegitimate children they would have had no right to inherit? I am assuming the son was baptised in private somewhere so that his illegitimacy was more difficult to prove? How would they have been seen within society and would he have been able to say make her out as his wife without them being married? I', assuming the Mrs suggests that she was already married and I am assuming she was from a lower social class. I am also wondering whether he deliberately didn't marry her because he hoped to do better still since his estate was impoverished.
I am a bit lost with this, any suggestions would be appreciated
thank you

[louisa maud]

Surely if the child children are mentioned in a will they will inherit regardless of legitimacy whatever class they may be

Louisa Maud

[arthurk]

I can't really comment on the general scenario and how acceptable it might have been for a man in his position to live with a woman who wasn't his wife, but there are a couple of things I can comment on:

First, I think the title Mrs was sometimes used for unmarried women, so you might not be able to read too much into this.

Second, the question about illegitmacy and inheritance only applies when someone doesn't leave a will. If there's a valid will which names illegitimate children, they will inherit. (Louisa Maud said this too while I was typing.) In fact if there were illegitimate children, the only way they could inherit was if they were explicitly named in a will.

Incidentally, if the woman he was living with wasn't his wife, there's a possibility she might have left a will too.

[jc26red]

I don't think his estate was impoverished at all, to leave £10000 to his daughter would have been a huge amount back then, let alone whatever his son inherited.  I have been looking at umpteen wills and deeds lately and that amount would have been significant.

Could they have been RC?  Might explain why you haven't found a marriage.

[philipsearching]

How would they have been seen within society and would he have been able to say make her out as his wife without them being married? ......  Mrs suggests that she was already married ..... I am assuming she was from a lower social class.

The gentleman would have been tolerated by society, but the woman would have been shunned.  (The same double standard goes on today: "He's a bit of a lad", "she's a sl*t").  The only way I think they could have successfully pretended to be married would be to have moved to a new area where they were not known (but even then, gossip could have caught up with them).

Mrs is the abbreviation for Mistress, used to address a married woman, but often also for some senior servants such as a cook or housekeeper, whether they were married or not.

The morality of the time was brilliantly shown by W M Thackeray in "Vanity Fair" - great novel which has been made into film and TV programmes.

Philip

[Greensleeves]

As has already been suggested, 'Mrs' was often given as a courtesy title to senior servants such as cooks and house-keepers, or unmarried women of a 'certain age'.  Of course, it is possible that the mother of the children was already married, which would account for the lack of a marriage between her and her partner.  The situation would suggest that she was from a lower class than him, but that he loved her and that she was accepted within his social circle, from what you say.  I suppose as the relationship was an acknowledged one,  members of his social circle would have accepted her.  Regardless of the social mores of the time, I am sure it was not unusual for such relationships to be accepted.

[Skoosh]

In Scotland there is a difference between heritable & moveable property, the former went to the legitimate heir & couldn't be willed. There would have been no shortage of claimants & their lawyers to contest a suspected illegitimate heir.

Skoosh. 

[wildwitch]

Thank you so much for all the great replies. The family indeed were in financial trouble. There are several letters surviving to that effect. He inherited a good £10000 in debts from his parents and his income was around £3000. The family mansion fell into ruin and the family lived on a farm before they could rebuild their fortunes. there were land sales too. The son was expected to bring in an heiress as the letters suggested ideally to wipe out the debts and bring in his sisters dowry. There is an extensive letter collection to that effect. The story does though get better...the son refused to marry where his father wanted him to and fell for a local Esq daughter who only had £5000 dowry. The father prohibited the marriage based on her lack of fortune and his dislike of her father, basically telling the son that he was responsible for ensuring not only his sisters future but also to improve the living conditions of the family. The whole lot was a big mess. The £10000 dowry was suggested by a rich relative, who seems to have had a lot of influence on the family. Indeed there is a high level of suspicion that the son stuck with his love and eventually had an illegitimate child with her, before both were rapidly married off at pretty much the same time. The son later made a bequest to this child in his will. The child in question appears to have been born just before they were both married off (to different partners), literally weeks before his father died.

[wildwitch]

Ah yes I had been wondering whether she may have been the housekeeper or a senior servant, that is precisely where my suspicion lies.