Illegitimacy, Family, and Stigma in England, 1660-1834

Abstract

Illegitimacy, Family, and Stigma is the first full-length exploration of what it was like to be illegitimate in eighteenth-century England. In a major reframing of assumptions that illegitimacy was experienced only among the poor, this book tells the stories of individuals from across the socio-economic scale, including children of royalty, middling physicians and lawyers, alongside servants and agricultural labourers. Using the words of illegitimate individuals and their families preserved in letters, diaries, and poor relief and court documents, this book reveals the impact of illegitimacy across the life cycle. How did illegitimacy affect children’s early years, and their relationships with parents, siblings, and wider family as they grew up? Did illegitimacy limit education, occupation, or marriage chances? What were individuals’ experiences of shame and stigma, and how did being illegitimate affect their sense of identity? This book investigates the circumstances that governed families’ responses, from love and pragmatic acceptance to secrecy and exclusion.

Dishonoured: The Fate of Infants Born out of Wedlock

“…Public records stigmatized those applying for school, insurance, or employment in an era when illegitimacy remained a shameful family secret [32]. The “New Poor Law” of 1834 and the “Bastardy Laws Amendment” of 1872 changed the rights of illegitimates and their mothers to paternal maintenance and parish relief [33].…”