Until quite recently payments under bastardy or affiliation orders were normally made through magistrates' court offices. This provided a means of tracking payments and verifying arrears when those concerned on both sides did not usually have bank accounts. As the name of the father is known, it should be possible to narrow down the possibilities by establishing which men of that name lived during the relevant period in the Petty Sessional Division of Southport. Of course this could be a mighty or a manageable task, depending on the frequency of the name. It could be worth seeking information from the court records there, if they survive. At least divisions then were somewhat smaller than they tend to be now (at present there is a Division of East Kent, for example). After the first world war, most men of full age appeared in a register of electors. Jeremy Wilkes