Natural mothers, putative fathers, and innocent children: The definition and regulation of parental relationships outside marriage, in England, 1945-1959

Journal of Family History

Volumn 25, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 178-195

  Fink, Janet ^a  

^a OPEN UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 0346044626     PISSN: 03631990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/036319900002500203     Document Type: Article

References (85)

1. 1. See, for example, Lord Horder, ed., Rebuilding Family Life in the Postwar World (London: Odhams Press, 1945).
2. 2. S. Ferguson and H. Fitzgerald, Studies in the Social Services (London: HMSO & Routledge, 1954), 98.
3. 3. The figures for venereal disease caused great concern for the Ministry of Health. By 1941, syphilis had increased by 113 percent among men and by 63 percent among women. The rates for gonorrhea had risen by 90 percent among men and 81 percent among women. See C. Haste, Rules of Desire. Sex in Britain: World War 1 to the Present (London: Chatto & Windus, 1992), 132-37.
4. 4. A comprehensive discussion of divorce in this period can be found in Roderick Phillips, Untying the Knot: A Short History of Divorce (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991), and O. R. McGregor, Divorce in England (London: Heinemann, 1957). For consideration of adultery and divorce, see C. Smart, "Good Wives and Moral Lives: Marriage and Divorce 1937-51, "in Nationalising Femininity: Culture, Sexuality and British Cinema in the Second World War, ed. C. Gledhill and G. Swanson (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1996).
5. 4. A comprehensive discussion of divorce in this period can be found in Roderick Phillips, Untying the Knot: A Short History of Divorce (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991), and O. R. McGregor, Divorce in England (London: Heinemann, 1957). For consideration of adultery and divorce, see C. Smart, "Good Wives and Moral Lives: Marriage and Divorce 1937-51, "in Nationalising Femininity: Culture, Sexuality and British Cinema in the Second World War, ed. C. Gledhill and G. Swanson (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1996).
6. 4. A comprehensive discussion of divorce in this period can be found in Roderick Phillips, Untying the Knot: A Short History of Divorce (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991), and O. R. McGregor, Divorce in England (London: Heinemann, 1957). For consideration of adultery and divorce, see C. Smart, "Good Wives and Moral Lives: Marriage and Divorce 1937-51, "in Nationalising Femininity: Culture, Sexuality and British Cinema in the Second World War, ed. C. Gledhill and G. Swanson (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1996).
7. 5. K. Kiernan, H. Land, and J. Lewis, Lone Motherhood in Twentieth-Century Britain (Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1998), 80.
8. 6. J. Lewis, Women in England 1870-1950 (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1984), 32. For detailed information about the nature of concerns about the birth rate, see Mass Observation, Britain and Her Birth Rate (London: Advertising Services Guild, 1945).
9. 6. J. Lewis, Women in England 1870-1950 (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1984), 32. For detailed information about the nature of concerns about the birth rate, see Mass Observation, Britain and Her Birth Rate (London: Advertising Services Guild, 1945).
10. 7. Royal Commission on Population (Command Paper [Cmnd] 6937, HMSO, 1944-6).
11. 8. The birth rate rose from 621, 000 in 1938 to 731, 000, having peaked in 1947 when 881, 000 children were born. B. R. Mitchell and H. G. Jones, Second Abstract of British Historical Statistics (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1971), 21.
12. 9. C. Haste, Rules of Desire, 144.
13. 10. For a detailed history of marriage guidance in this period, see J. Lewis, D. Clark, and D. Morgan, "Whom God Hath Joined Together": The Work of Marriage Guidance (London: Routledge, 1992).
14. 11. M. Ferguson, Forever Feminine: Women's Magazines and the Cult of Femininity (London: Heinemann, 1983), 44.
15. 12. This period and its reforms have been well documented by political, economic, and social historians. See, for example, H. Glennerster, British Social Policy Since 1945 (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1995); P. Hennessy, Never Again: Britain 1945-51 (London: Vintage, 1992); K. O. Morgan, Labour in Power 1945-51 (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1986); and P. Thane, The Foundations of the Welfare State (London: Longman, 1982).
16. 12. This period and its reforms have been well documented by political, economic, and social historians. See, for example, H. Glennerster, British Social Policy Since 1945 (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1995); P. Hennessy, Never Again: Britain 1945-51 (London: Vintage, 1992); K. O. Morgan, Labour in Power 1945-51 (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1986); and P. Thane, The Foundations of the Welfare State (London: Longman, 1982).
17. 12. This period and its reforms have been well documented by political, economic, and social historians. See, for example, H. Glennerster, British Social Policy Since 1945 (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1995); P. Hennessy, Never Again: Britain 1945-51 (London: Vintage, 1992); K. O. Morgan, Labour in Power 1945-51 (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1986); and P. Thane, The Foundations of the Welfare State (London: Longman, 1982).
18. 12. This period and its reforms have been well documented by political, economic, and social historians. See, for example, H. Glennerster, British Social Policy Since 1945 (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1995); P. Hennessy, Never Again: Britain 1945-51 (London: Vintage, 1992); K. O. Morgan, Labour in Power 1945-51 (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1986); and P. Thane, The Foundations of the Welfare State (London: Longman, 1982).
19. 13. Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services (Cmnd 6404, HMSO, 1942).
20. 14. A comprehensive history of "single" mothers in this period is provided in K. Kiernan, H. Land, and J. Lewis, Lone Motherhood in Twentieth-Century Britain (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1998). See also J. Fink, "Condemned or Condoned? Investigating the Problem of Unmarried Motherhood in England, 1945-60" (Ph.D. thesis, University of Essex, 1997).
21. 14. A comprehensive history of "single" mothers in this period is provided in K. Kiernan, H. Land, and J. Lewis, Lone Motherhood in Twentieth-Century Britain (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1998). See also J. Fink, "Condemned or Condoned? Investigating the Problem of Unmarried Motherhood in England, 1945-60" (Ph.D. thesis, University of Essex, 1997).
22. 15. Discussion of the relationship between social policy and child psychology in this period can be found in Denise Riley, The War in the Nursery: Theories of the Child and Mother (London: Virago, 1983).
23. 16. John Bowlby, Maternal Care and Mental Health (Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organisation, 1952).
24. 17. As in, for example, Donald Winnicott, The Child and His Family: First Relationships (London: Tavistock, 1957).
25. 18. The Monckton Enquiry investigated the death of foster child Dennis O'Neill, who died as a result of neglect and ill-treatment. His foster parents had not been properly vetted or supervised by the local authority.
26. 19. See Glennerster, British Social Policy, 64, and comments by M. Hill in The Welfare State in Britain (London: Edward Elgar, 1993) about the regular omission of the Children Act in histories of the welfare state despite its importance to the care and protection of children in the postwar years.
27. 19. See Glennerster, British Social Policy, 64, and comments by M. Hill in The Welfare State in Britain (London: Edward Elgar, 1993) about the regular omission of the Children Act in histories of the welfare state despite its importance to the care and protection of children in the postwar years.
28. 20. A. Land et al., The Development of the Welfare State (London: HMSO, 1992), 200.
29. 21. For discussion of the continuing role of the voluntary sector in work with families, see J. Lewis, The Voluntary Sector, the State and Social Work in Britain (London: Edward Elgar, 1995).
30. 22. Details about this legislation can be found in Fatherless by Law? (London: Church Information Office, 1966), 12-14.
31. 23. Discussion of the work of these organizations during this period and their responses to legislative reforms can be found in Fink, "Condemned or Condoned?"
32. 24. See M. Finer and O. McGregor, The History of the Obligation to Maintain, vol. 2, appendix V (Cmnd 5629, HMSO, 1974).
33. 25. F. T. Giles, The Magistrates' Court (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1955), 205.
34. 26. Ibid.
35. 27. L. Jeger, ed., Illegitimate Children and Their Parents (London: National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child, 1951), 9.
36. 28. V. Wimperis, in The Unmarried Mother and Her Child (London: Allen & Unwin, 1960), noted from her research that "the proceedings are still coloured by the fact that to prove the woman to be of bad character is the man's best defence, unless he can prove non-access. A number of girls therefore go through an ordeal in court, especially if they are attached to the man. Cases even occur in which witnesses - friends of the father - give false evidence that they slept with the girl, in order to destroy her case" (p. 136).
37. 29. British Medical Association (BMA) and Magistrates Association, The Law in Relation to the Illegitimate Child (London: BMA, 1952), 8.
38. 30. See Wimperis, The Unmarried Mother, 137-38.
39. 31. Giles, The Magistrates' Court, 208.
40. 32. Fatherless by Law? 16.
41. 33. Ibid., 17.
42. 34. Hilary Macaskill, From the Workhouse to the Workplace (London: National Council for One Parent Families, 1993), 22-26.
43. 35. Wimperis, The Unmarried Mother, 140.
44. 36. Ibid., 139.
45. 37. Wimperis revealed, however, that £1 10s. was seldom paid by putative fathers. After working on the records of one court during the year 1951-1952, she discovered that "the number of orders then on its books reveals that the average man actually paid only 9s 6d a week. Most, it seems, fell seriously and successfully into debt." Ibid., 142.
46. 38. Hansard, 496, Col. 1621, February 1952.
47. 39. "Illegitimate Children of Overseas Forces, "File 3, Moral Welfare Council Archives, the Church of England Record Centre, London.
48. 40. The Church Times, March 16, 1951.
49. 41. L. B. Shapiro, the Times, December 18, 1951.
50. 42. The Times, November 30, 1951.
51. 43. The National Assistance Act (1948) states
52. 42. (1) For the purposes of this Act (a) a man shall be liable to maintain his wife and his children, and (b) a woman shall be liable to maintain her husband and her children (2)… a man's children includes a reference to children whom he has been adjudged to be the putative father, and a reference in paragraph (b) of that subsection to a woman's children includes a reference to her illegitimate children.
53. 44. Cited in BMA and Magistrates Association, The Law in Relation to the Illegitimate Child, 6.
54. 45. This birth certificate cost ninepence when it was introduced in 1947. In 1950, Mary Grant, the editor of Woman's Own's problem page, declared, "I only wish that when these were introduced they had been made general for everybody and the full one supplied at a colossal fee on special demand." An indication perhaps that the general public appreciated that the shortened birth certificate had not solved the issue of registering the birth of an illegitimate child.
55. 46. The birth certificate was so referred to in the Lancet, November 23, 1946, p. 771.
56. 47. B. Watkins, Documents on Health and Social Services 1834 to Present Day (London: Methuen, 1975), 421.
57. 48. Land et al., The Development of the Welfare State, 201.
58. 49. Hansard, 461, Col. 1480, Adoption of Children Bill (February 1949).
59. 50. R. M. Wrong, "Some Voluntary Organisations for the Welfare of Children, "in Voluntary Social Services, ed. A.F.C. Bourdillon (London: Methuen, 1945), 41.
60. 51. M. Ellison, The Adopted Child (London: Gollancz, 1958), 44.
61. 52. Hansard, 466, Col. 681, Adoption of Children Bill Report (December 1949).
62. 53. Hansard, 470, Col. 1611, Adoption of Children Bill (December 1949).
63. 54. Hansard, 466, Col. 685.
64. 55. Hansard, 466, Col. 687.
65. 56. Hansard, 470, Col. 1608.
66. 57. Hansard, 461, Col. 1493.
67. 58. Hansard, 466, Col. 683.
68. 59. Hansard, 466, Col. 679. Mrs. Ayrton Gould had been involved with "women's issues" since the early 1920s. For more detail of her early political career, see S. Pederson, Family, Dependence and the Origins of the Welfare State (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
69. 59. Hansard, 466, Col. 679. Mrs. Ayrton Gould had been involved with "women's issues" since the early 1920s. For more detail of her early political career, see S. Pederson, Family, Dependence and the Origins of the Welfare State (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
70. 60. Fatherless by Law? offered a range of suggestions by which putative fathers might be allowed, through the law, to take responsibility for their illegitimate children.
71. 61. The Law in Relation to the Illegitimate Child illustrates the common view on this issue. It noted, "To exert pressure blindly is a mistake, since such marriages are so frequently unsuccessful for the parents and disastrous for the children" (p. 21).
72. 62. All England Law Reports, vol. 2, 1955, p. 912.
73. 63. Children Act (1948) s.95 (1) as quoted in the court case cited above.
74. 64. The journal Child Adoption (May 1954) noted, "Our Hon. Legal Advisor found it very difficult to give any useful advice in the matter, since, as he pointed out, there was no definition of the word 'parent' in the Adoption Act, 1950, and he could not advise that a court was bound to hold that a husband is not a 'parent' of his wife's child (within s.2 (4)(a)) whenever it is satisfied that marital intercourse did not take place during the relevant period" (p. 5).
75. 65. Re D (an infant) Court of Appeal in All England Law Reports, part 3, 1958, pp. 716-19. See also J. Teichman, Illegitimacy: A Philosophical Examination (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1982), 72-75.
76. 65. Re D (an infant) Court of Appeal in All England Law Reports, part 3, 1958, pp. 716-19. See also J. Teichman, Illegitimacy: A Philosophical Examination (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1982), 72-75.
77. 66. Re D (an infant), All England Law Reports.
78. 67. Child Adoption (Autumn/Winter, 1958-1959).
79. 68. Hansard, 598, Col. 1409, Legitimacy Bill (January 1959).
80. 69. See Fatherless by Law? for a brief history of the indelibility of bastardy and T. E. James "The Illegitimate and Deprived Child: Legitimation and Adoption, "in A Century of Family Law, 1857-1957, ed. R. H. Graveson & F. R. Crane (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1957).
81. 69. See Fatherless by Law? for a brief history of the indelibility of bastardy and T. E. James "The Illegitimate and Deprived Child: Legitimation and Adoption, "in A Century of Family Law, 1857-1957, ed. R. H. Graveson & F. R. Crane (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1957).
82. 70. Royal Commission on Marriage and Divorce (Cmnd 9687, HMSO, 1951-55) paragraphs 1179-80.
83. 71. Hansard, 598, Col. 1441.
84. 72. Hansard, 598, Col. 1408.
85. 73. Fatherless by Law? 36.