Richard M Brown wrote: Snip > OK. End of story. My questions are:- > 1. How common were out-of-wedlock births to soldiers? Probably very common judging by contemporary accounts and given that human nature hasn't changed ! eric.stamen.com/ww1/.../02.War%20Wives%20and%20Immorality.doc deals with Germany but I am sure Britain was much the same. I had relations in the London Gunners in WW1 so this website was particularly apposite http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/projects/londongunners/lg-fair-sex.htm (I wonder how many unkonwn cousins I have ?) > 2. What was the attitude towards illegitimacy - and was there any particular stigma attached to military offspring? Illegitimacy was definitely a social stigma but illegitimate military offspring were no more stigmatised than others. There were 'good' girls and 'bad' girls ('lucky' and 'unlucky' would probably be more accurate) - the male was not likely to suffer unduly. > 3. How would the parents of a family treat the illegitimate child? Depends on the social status...the very poor probably accepted the child as a way of life, the very rich concealed it, the lower/upper middle class were horrified and would go to great lengths to conceal it, to the extent that parents often took upon the raising of an elder daughter's illegitimate progeny as if it was their own - again, judging by contemporary accounts. > 4. Would social standing - real or perceived - affect how the family would deal with the situation? yes, see above > > My relatives and I have good ideas as to how these situations were dealt with. Pre WW1 attitudes would have been prim ans strict with such affairs covered up. I think even Queen Victoria's family had an illegitimate child somewhere. I also think that within a family the mother of an illegitimate child would be hidden, or sent away in the latter stages of her pregnancy - to maintain the shell of decency. > > Certainly Canadian and UK attitudes would have differed, A war 'widow' arriving with a child in Canada with a plausible story would have no problems. Who could prove otherwise ? although today the saying is that modern Canadians are more British than the British. > > Any way help an comments would be much appreciated, you wonderful lot. > Richard Brown > Bromley > Kent > U.K. > > > > > > *************************************** > Send your List messages using **PLAIN TEXT** and always **TRIM AWAY** superfluous old messages in replies. > > List Admin can be contacted at: Eng-Surrey-admin@rootsweb.com. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-SURREY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Anne, Many thanks for the lin and your answers to my questions. With best wishes  Richard Brown Bromley Kent U.K. ----- Original Message ---- From: Anne Chambers <anne.chambers@bigpond.com> To: eng-surrey@rootsweb.com Sent: Sunday, 27 September, 2009 10:14:38 Subject: Re: [SRY] A Question about Society in the early 1900's Richard M Brown wrote: Snip > OK.  End of story.  My questions are:- > 1.  How common were out-of-wedlock births to soldiers? Probably very common judging by contemporary accounts and given that human nature hasn't changed ! eric.stamen.com/ww1/.../02.War%20Wives%20and%20Immorality.doc deals with Germany but I am sure Britain was much the same. I had relations in the London Gunners in WW1 so this website was particularly apposite http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/projects/londongunners/lg-fair-sex.htm (I wonder how many unkonwn cousins I have ?) > 2.  What was the attitude towards illegitimacy - and was there any particular stigma attached to military offspring? Illegitimacy was definitely a social stigma but illegitimate military offspring were no more stigmatised than others. There were 'good' girls and 'bad' girls ('lucky' and 'unlucky' would probably be more accurate) - the male was not likely to suffer unduly. > 3.  How would the parents of a family treat the illegitimate child? Depends on the social status...the very poor probably accepted the child as a way of life, the very rich concealed it, the lower/upper middle class were horrified and would go to great lengths to conceal it, to the extent that parents often took upon the raising of an elder daughter's illegitimate progeny as if it was their own - again, judging by contemporary accounts. > 4.  Would social standing - real or perceived - affect how the family would deal with the situation? yes, see above > > My relatives and I have good ideas as to how these situations were dealt with.  Pre WW1 attitudes would have been prim ans strict with such affairs covered up.  I think even Queen Victoria's family had an illegitimate child somewhere.  I also think that within a family the mother of an illegitimate child would be hidden, or sent away in the latter stages of her pregnancy - to maintain the shell of decency. > > Certainly Canadian and UK attitudes would have differed, A war 'widow' arriving with a child in Canada with a plausible story would  have no problems.  Who could prove otherwise ?   although today the saying is that modern Canadians are more British than the British. > > Any way help an comments would be much appreciated, you wonderful lot. >  Richard Brown > Bromley > Kent > U.K. > > > > > > *************************************** > Send your List messages using **PLAIN TEXT** and always **TRIM AWAY** superfluous old messages in replies. > > List Admin can be contacted at:  Eng-Surrey-admin@rootsweb.com. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-SURREY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > *************************************** Send your List messages using **PLAIN TEXT** and always **TRIM AWAY** superfluous old messages in replies. List Admin can be contacted at:  Eng-Surrey-admin@rootsweb.com.   ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-SURREY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message