I know in the past when a baby was registered to an unmarried mother the father had to be present at the registration for his name to go on the certificate but does anyone know when in England the law changed & what information the mother gave would just be accepted.
Oddly enough, I found it yesterday whilst I was looking for something else.... The Registration Act of 1875 stated that "the name, surname and occupation of the putative father of an illegitimate child must not be entered except at the joint request of the father and mother; in which case both the father and mother must sign the entry as informants" However, this changed with the 1953 Births and Deaths Registration Act. If you have a look here and scroll down to Section F19 (Registration of father where parents not married) it will tell you all about it.
An unmarried woman could of course claim to be married and then it wouldn't be necessary for the father to turn up.
Sad tho', in the case of a reputed Father already being married, didn't stop him wandering & fathering children wherever else he wished.
