Hi Heather, Just to say that between 1837 and 1874 if the mother informed a registrar of an illegitimate child's birth and also stated a father's name, the registrar could record him as the father, although he may not have actually been the father. This applied until The Registration Act of 1874 which stated: "The putative father of an illegitimate child cannot be required as father to give information respecting the birth. The name, surname and occupation of the putative father of an illegitimate child must not be entered except at the joint request of the father and mother; in which case both the father and mother must sign the entry as informants" The Act came into force on 1st January 1875 Stan On 17 May 2011 19:39, h dean <deanh61@hotmail.co.uk> wrote: > > > > > Hi all. > > I have today received a birth certificate for one of my ancestors. She is Jane and the birth is registered by her mother Margaret Matthewson. The father, however has another surname. Wallington or Wellington Richison so it seems she is illegitimate. > > If I have the right guy then he doesnt appear to be married and yet didnt marry Margaret, marrying another lady a few years later. > > I was wondering if there would be anything available in Northumberland Archives or Tyne and Wear Archive Services regarding parish relief or any payments the guy would have made.  Margaret goes on to have another two children and it would be interesting to try and find out if they all have the same father - sadly I've never been able to locate their birth indexes or baptisms for them. > > I have emailed TWAS to ask them what is available regarding parish relief or similar, but being the impatient kind, I was hoping someone knowledgeable on the list may know. > > The birth was in the Sandgate area of Newcastle and was in 1841. > > Thanks for any help. > > Heather. > >  ==== DUR-NBL Mailing List ==== > To Post a message to this list send it to, > DUR-NBL-L@rootsweb.com > > ==== DUR-NBL Mailing List ==== > List Web Page > http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/durhamgenealogy/index.phtml > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DUR-NBL-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >