Mathews and de Vere

[Watson]

Many thanks for your reply, jorose.

1. If there were very few court cases, how did the authorities get the dough needed to support the children?  Did they threaten the fathers?  If so, did any documents result from that?  When you say "local poor law records", do you mean for the parish where he was born, or would I need to know the parish where his mother lived when she became pregnant?

2. Thanks.  I have the mother's burial entry at Brompton Cemetery.  It was a private grave, paid for by Valentine.  The records can be searched on the Royal Parks website.

3.  Noted, and thanks.

[jorose]

No threats needed; they could make it a legal order for him to pay.

However there was no need unless the mother was actually taking financial support under the poor law. In most cases being on parish support / in the workhouse was seen as a last resort, so if she had other options she may have avoided interacting with this system - hence no records. In other cases the records may not have survived.

If her financial support came from her work, her family, informal payments from the birth-father , getting quickly married to the birth-father or anybody else, the authorties didn't care as long as she wasn't on their books.

Records, if they exist, would be with whichever area she became supported by, although sometimes people were subsequently removed to their "home" parish. The parish of birth would be the first place I'd look.