Servants and illegitimacy

[coombs]

Usually female servants who were unmarried and fell pregnant often had had a brief dalliance with a fellow male servant, and a pregnancy resulted. I believe that is how my ancestor met her husband in the early 1860s, he was a footman and servant and she worked in the manor opposite her house. Her dad was a wheelwright. She and her husband later moved away.

[melba_schmelba]

What I have found in my family is if such a story was talked about, usually it is found not to be true, and if such a thing actually happened, it was never talked about, and everything possible was done to conceal it and descendants knew nothing about it.

[Shropshire Lass]

While looking for a Welsh ancestor's baptism, I found an entry for an illegitimate child where the vicar had added that the mother assured him that the father was the Duke of Aberystwyth!  Poor woman was obviously spun a yarn in order for the man to get his way with her.

[Gadget]

In my instance - post #6 - it was the mother who wasn't named. The father was.

[melba_schmelba]

In my instance - post #6 - it was the mother who wasn't named. The father was.

It would be interesting to know, what happened to women that this happened to, servants made pregnant by the gentry or aristocracy (even Royalty ). I suspect women of humble origins, possibly local to the area, and a 'subject' in some way of the local landed family, possibly with her own parents and family members employed in some way, or their employment in some way linked, might have been bullied into silence, perhaps even threatened. But maybe it never even came to that, as there was no proof, and she would not have the social power or education to be able to make any sort of claim, and if she did, perhaps the local authorities would admonish her for daring to make such accusations against their generous and respectable Lords of the Manor . Did they talk about it to their children, or keep it a secret out of shame? Would they tell the child who their real father was? You wouldn't think it was particularly uncommon, perhaps many people might find connections to the aristocracy or gentry deep in their DNA if they look carefully enough.....

[Gadget]

Sadly, she wasn't named, neither could I find the  the child after many searches. She was named Margaret <father's surname>. The father, is my 5 x great grandfather. He married very soon afterwards and he and his wife moved from the area.

Add - I've not looked at this for a few years so maybe I'll investigate some more 

[melba_schmelba]

Sadly, she wasn't named, neither could I find the  the child after many searches. She was named Margaret <father's surname>. The father, is my 5 x great grandfather. He married very soon afterwards and he and his wife moved from the area.

Add - I've not looked at this for a few years so maybe I'll investigate some more 

I think actually illegitimacy was tolerated and almost accepted at least up to the early 19th century, and the fathers would often accept those children, say by a maid or housekeeper if they were living in some sort of common law marriage. In fact I have recently found at least three different cases of this in wills, in all the cases the father mentions the children as having two possible surnames, that of the mother, the housekeeper/maid and his surname as an alias. Interestingly though I could find no evidence of the children's baptisms under either name in one case.
  But I think we should distinguish that with a situation where perhaps the social disparity was greater, such as in very wealthy gentry or a city merchant family, or aristocracy and the woman was one of many servants in a large household. In that case I suspect she would have been subject to not only shame from her employer and the head servants of the household i.e. footman, butler, housekeeper but also her own family. But perhaps it was so common, subject of family and community stories about past such 'events' involving the gentry or aristocracy, that there was a quiet understanding of the situation, and the woman just 'got on with it', had the child and married someone of their own class and perhaps the truth about the first child's parentage was usually kept secret.

[Gadget]

The family were  a well known wealthy family. The mother (who had the lady's maid) was from an aristocratic line that can be traced back to the Welsh princes.

[melba_schmelba]

The family were  a well known wealthy family. The mother (who had the lady's maid) was from an aristocratic line that can be traced back to the Welsh princes.

Interesting . As you say it would be interesting to know what actually happened to the child, whether adopted or fostered by a maiden aunt or sent to sister or cousin etc., or, as I also know happened, sent to a children's home on false pretences - there were some very prestigious ones such as the Wanstead Infant Orphan Asylum - ballots were held to give places, but the whole system was corrupt, and illegitimate children of the well off classes were often bought places there

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snaresbrook_Crown_Court

https://www.artfund.org/supporting-museums/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/5574/an-infant-orphan-election-at-the-london-tavern-