Illegitimacy
Illegitimate children were known as bastards and recorded in documents as baseborn, a son natural, or daughter natural. The father and mother may also be described as “adulterer” or “fornicator”.
The birth of an illegitimate child was sometimes referred to as 'bearing a child in uncleanness'. You may find a record stating that a child was ‘begat in fornication’ (another reference to illegitimacy); however, it does not necessarily mean that the parents were unmarried, and could mean that the child was born less than 9 months after the marriage. Kirk Elders who complained that there were too many quick weddings (to avoid being found out as a fornicator and punished) ruled that if there was any doubt, the midwife would be consulted to give an opinion on whether the child was premature or full-term. A child born in such circumstances would be labelled "begat in fornication" even if the parents were married - albeit only for a few months.
It was considered a shameful thing to be unwed and pregnant, and the mother was often sent away to deliver the baby. Hence, the birth of an illegitimate child may be recorded in another parish. The birth may be registered under the mother’s name or the father’s name.
Although illegitimacy was very rare in the 1600s, accounting for less than one per cent of all births, studies show that almost 40% of all brides were pregnant at the time of marriage. The legislature declared in 1678 that there were ‘frequent murders of innocent infants, whose mothers concealed their pregnancy, and did not call for necessary assistance in the birth.’ A law was therefore implemented that women acting in this secretive manner and whose babes were dead or missing should be held guilty of murder and punished accordingly. The puritanic severity by which the country treated indiscretions was the by-product which reduced women to such extreme actions. Terrible as this act was, the social punishment was considered more fearful, and it is understood to have had many victims.
In 1681 four women were hanged for murdering their own children, born out of wedlock. Another woman was hanged in the Grassmarket for murdering her child, declaring that she had committed the deed in order ‘to shun the disgrace and dishonour of the church pillory.’
The frequency of such cases, and the declaration of this poor woman, attracted the attention of the Duke of York. He was surprised to hear of a custom used in no other Christian country and suggested that rather than punish them they should receive a financial penalty or a corporal punishment. The civil magistrate, however, thought the practice justifiable in the belief that, ‘They who sin openly should be rebuked openly.’
In the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) unwed pregnant mothers could be sent to prison or the Asylum, and were forced to repent before the Congregation. Fear of condemnation for illegitimacy forced women to kill their newborns, and if a woman concealed the death of a child whether dead or missing she was liable to be sentenced to death. To counter illegitimate births the act of 1732/3 stated that any unmarried woman who found herself pregnant was to declare it to the Overseer of the Poor in her parish and name the Father.
The birth was legitimised if the parents married, sometimes several years later, and was deemed acceptable within Scots law as long as the parents were free to marry at the time the child was conceived. If this occurred, the birth was recorded in a Corrected Entry which will be displayed in the margin. (Take note when searching for a marriage as it may have taken place many years after the birth of a first child.)
Between the years of 1855 and 1919 a birth was recorded with the word 'illegitimate' on the document. If the father acknowledged paternity, the child may be registered with both the mother's and father's names. Example: You may find an illegitimate son named John Lockhart Macdonald where John Lockhart was his father and Macdonald was his mother’s maiden name.The birth of an illegitimate child may also be recorded in another parish. It was considered a shameful thing to be unwed and pregnant, and the mother was often sent away to deliver the baby. The child may then have been raised by grandparents or other members of the family. The birth may be registered under the mother’s name or the father’s name.
If a baptism took place, the child was registered with the mother's surname, and it was accepted practice to give an illegitimate son his father’s first name and surname followed by the mother’s surname. If there is no record of an illegitimate birth in the OPRs, it may be recorded in the Kirk Session records with the resulting penance for both mother and father.
The Kirk Session was composed of the minister and elders of the parish church, and one if its’ tasks was to deal with parishioners who were brought before the Kirk Session to answer for their immoral behaviour. Mother and father may have been required to make a public confession and repent before the congregation. If the mother refused to name the father or the father disputed the mother's claim the drama unfolded in the Kirk Session.
The use of the term “illegitimate” in column 1 of the birth and death registers was discontinued in 1919.
The birth of an illegitimate child was sometimes referred to as 'bearing a child in uncleanness'. You may find a record stating that a child was ‘begat in fornication’ (another reference to illegitimacy); however, it does not necessarily mean that the parents were unmarried, and could mean that the child was born less than 9 months after the marriage. Kirk Elders who complained that there were too many quick weddings (to avoid being found out as a fornicator and punished) ruled that if there was any doubt, the midwife would be consulted to give an opinion on whether the child was premature or full-term. A child born in such circumstances would be labelled "begat in fornication" even if the parents were married - albeit only for a few months.
It was considered a shameful thing to be unwed and pregnant, and the mother was often sent away to deliver the baby. Hence, the birth of an illegitimate child may be recorded in another parish. The birth may be registered under the mother’s name or the father’s name.
Although illegitimacy was very rare in the 1600s, accounting for less than one per cent of all births, studies show that almost 40% of all brides were pregnant at the time of marriage. The legislature declared in 1678 that there were ‘frequent murders of innocent infants, whose mothers concealed their pregnancy, and did not call for necessary assistance in the birth.’ A law was therefore implemented that women acting in this secretive manner and whose babes were dead or missing should be held guilty of murder and punished accordingly. The puritanic severity by which the country treated indiscretions was the by-product which reduced women to such extreme actions. Terrible as this act was, the social punishment was considered more fearful, and it is understood to have had many victims.
In 1681 four women were hanged for murdering their own children, born out of wedlock. Another woman was hanged in the Grassmarket for murdering her child, declaring that she had committed the deed in order ‘to shun the disgrace and dishonour of the church pillory.’
The frequency of such cases, and the declaration of this poor woman, attracted the attention of the Duke of York. He was surprised to hear of a custom used in no other Christian country and suggested that rather than punish them they should receive a financial penalty or a corporal punishment. The civil magistrate, however, thought the practice justifiable in the belief that, ‘They who sin openly should be rebuked openly.’
In the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) unwed pregnant mothers could be sent to prison or the Asylum, and were forced to repent before the Congregation. Fear of condemnation for illegitimacy forced women to kill their newborns, and if a woman concealed the death of a child whether dead or missing she was liable to be sentenced to death. To counter illegitimate births the act of 1732/3 stated that any unmarried woman who found herself pregnant was to declare it to the Overseer of the Poor in her parish and name the Father.
The birth was legitimised if the parents married, sometimes several years later, and was deemed acceptable within Scots law as long as the parents were free to marry at the time the child was conceived. If this occurred, the birth was recorded in a Corrected Entry which will be displayed in the margin. (Take note when searching for a marriage as it may have taken place many years after the birth of a first child.)
Between the years of 1855 and 1919 a birth was recorded with the word 'illegitimate' on the document. If the father acknowledged paternity, the child may be registered with both the mother's and father's names. Example: You may find an illegitimate son named John Lockhart Macdonald where John Lockhart was his father and Macdonald was his mother’s maiden name.The birth of an illegitimate child may also be recorded in another parish. It was considered a shameful thing to be unwed and pregnant, and the mother was often sent away to deliver the baby. The child may then have been raised by grandparents or other members of the family. The birth may be registered under the mother’s name or the father’s name.
If a baptism took place, the child was registered with the mother's surname, and it was accepted practice to give an illegitimate son his father’s first name and surname followed by the mother’s surname. If there is no record of an illegitimate birth in the OPRs, it may be recorded in the Kirk Session records with the resulting penance for both mother and father.
The Kirk Session was composed of the minister and elders of the parish church, and one if its’ tasks was to deal with parishioners who were brought before the Kirk Session to answer for their immoral behaviour. Mother and father may have been required to make a public confession and repent before the congregation. If the mother refused to name the father or the father disputed the mother's claim the drama unfolded in the Kirk Session.
The use of the term “illegitimate” in column 1 of the birth and death registers was discontinued in 1919.