Leicester Division Bastardy Book - 1844-1874

 This old book was discovered in the archives of Freer, Bouskell Solicitors and has now been handed in to the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Records Office.   It contains a list of the cases dealt with in the Courts for many parishes within a few miles of the Borough of Leicester, but not inside it.   This is a full transcription of over 700 entries from the Petty Session Court cases, and each final entry states the sentence imposed by the Court.

Notes

The text below first page of the book, but mould has eaten away at the page, so a series of dots replaces the unreadable words.

COUNTY OF LEICESTER, LEICESTER DIVISION, BASTARDY BOOK 1844-1874

A list of the summons issued, applications ……….. and orders made by virtue of an Act ……. in the 7th & 8th years of the reign of ………

Queen Victoria instituted an Act ………. for the further Amendment of the Laws relating to the Poor of England since the first day of

January 1852 by the Justices of the Peace for who ……….. clerk.    County of Leicester, Leicester Division

I certify the above list to be correct in all particulars.   ………….   2 Jan 1854     Clerk to the Justices.

In the book, a couple of these entries refer to page numbers, but they have been converted to entry numbers in the file, as most page numbers in the book are missing.

Notes:

Here is a list of what it says at the top of each of the five columns on each page of the book:

1.          Name of Mother of Bastard applying

2.          Date of issue of Summons

3.          Date of Petty Sessions

4.          Result of the application

5.          Name of the putative Father in all cases in which Orders are made

Abode Column

This column was created because the mother's abode appears in most entries under her name in the first column.

Date Columns

Two “Date” columns have been created for each entry, but these columns do not exist in the actual book.   These columns have the year of the entry, and in the book, in the early years, it is written at the top of the columns marked “Date of issue of Summons” and “Date of Petty Sessions” on some, but not all, of the pages, but every entry in the last few years has the year written as part of the date.

Comments Column

Many of the comments were written in various columns in actual entries, so this column was created to provide this information.   It is not a column in the book.   In some cases, a few words have been added to show you which column the entry came from.

© Leicestershire & Rutland Family History Society