Unmarried mother and 10 children with no father(s)

[Hmmph]

I have been researching my family tree.

I have a lady in it who was not married and had 10 children. None of the children have a father in the birth certificates. They were born either side of 1900 and fairly regularly.

Any ideas what this is??

What do you mean be "what this is?"

Perhaps she was in service and having a sexual relationship with her male boss. I believe that sort of thing happened. His name wouldn’t have gone on any birth certificates.

Prostitute?

Did they live together and is there any evidence of how she supported herself?

Do you know is she raised these children or adopted them out? It would have been highly unusual for a unmarried woman of that time to have 10 children and openly keep them.

Where did she live and what was her job?

Following!

Were they unwanted by their mothers and this woman registered their births and adopted them?

Have you looked at her census details? 1901 and 1911, which has a bit more information but might be too late for you.

Sounds like my 2x great grandma! She lived with 2x great grandfather for 30 years and had 12 children all illegitimate as he was married already, although his wife is nowhere to be seen. She's down as his housekeeper on all the census returns. Are there any men living with her in 1901 or 1911?

How interesting (and possibly sad).

My first thought was a longstanding affair with a married man.

Although prostitution is another plausible explanation. Did they not have contraception back then?

I'm interested as well. What do the censuses show?

Sometimes the child's name might be a clue (depending on the exact status of the relationship and how scared she was of the father). Searching my (fairly unusual) surname in Northamptonshire brings up the birth and death of Eliza C M [surname] where M is a definite surname and C is not what you might consider a first name at all but would be more likely to be given to a boy. I haven't investigated (think she's part of the line I haven't found the connection to) but would love to know whether the father was all for this or it was a big Fuck You Arsehole...

One of my distant cousins was in the workhouse in 1891 with a small baby called Harry. In 1881 she was in service in a household headed by 18yo Henry Smith (who mysteriously disappears from the record). I may be maligning him, but I've assumed he's the father.

(Child died shortly afterwards, as practically all her closest relatives did. Her early life was appalling.)

Yes. Census would be the key. Where was she living and who with?

She kept all the children and they had her surname. On various census, she is listed as head of the household with all her children and no man. They were fairly poor. She was listed as a domestic servant on one and later as a farmer.

It is very confusing! It doesn’t fit in with anything I thought I knew about those days that a single woman would be clearly bringing up 10 children with no father.

I wondered about prostitution, but she doesn’t seem to have been arrested at all and has kept all the children. She also seems to have been pretty fairly regularly pregnant, which surely wouldn’t go down well with any clients?!

I would love to know who had fathered all these children! No idea how to find out.

Sorry, not domestic servant but “hotel scullery maid”

Anything in baptism records?

Do you have a newspaper archive subscription? My 4xgreat grandmother and her dad were arrested for operating a house of ill repute in the 1880’s. It hit local papers. You can find out so much more depth of information from it. I also found out about my other great grandfathers arrests, a few unsavoury details about the manner of his wife’s deaths, and how the nice side of my family lost all their money in the 1900’s (mental health issues )

Weirdly I had the same situation as the Northampton poster as well, and found the real father in the same way - the middle name was his. It was a brilliant clue for generations to come

And also 10 children is not unusual in those days, and I’d bank money on the eldest boy being named after the father or his own father so you have a clue there. Is she using a maiden name the whole time?

This is intriguing. ..its seems implausible she was a single hotel scullery maid or farmer bringing up 10 kids.

Where did she live?

Wow I would love to find out more about her life!

How have you been researching your family tree? I want to do this myself.

Fascinating! I wish my family tree had something interesting in it. Maybe I'll start researching someone else's instead

There will be a previously married man in there most likely.

No divorce unless you were well off.

You could check for records of "bastardy orders" they were an option for single mothers, by claiming payment from a father.