Bastardy Bonds

[BarbaraW]

I have been searching for these Bastardy orders for Liverpool on the Lancashire record offices site and not having any luck. What am I doing wrong?

Would there be orders for all illegitimate children?

[MaryA]

I have had most luck by searching for the mother's name, perhaps not always the case, but a few have turned up that way. It may be because the mother's name would be entered in full whereas the child's name might be written as just the first name without a surname.

[BarbaraW]

Thank you Mary. Would these be held at Liverpool or the record office at Preston do you know?

[Hilary]

Many Lancashire Bastardy Allegations and bonds are in the Quarter Sessions records and are now on the Ancestry site see below. They are under the Criminal bit on the site. You will not find one for every illegitimate child. It depended on whether one was applied for. Some families just accepted the child as their own. In other cases it was the parish who wanted to make sure the child didn't become a cost to the parish.

Liverpool ones would be held at the Lancashire Archives but as far as I can see the below film may contain them all. It certainly has all the ones I am aware of for my family.

However be aware that not all requests went to the Quarter Sessions, one of mine was heard at the Petty Sessions, the equivalent I believe of our Magistrates court. That one I only found by trawling the local paper.

Also try the Discovery catalogue on the National Archives catalogue. The Lancashire Bastardy bonds used to show on the Access to Archives site now integrated with the National Archives site. The Lancashire Archives online catalogue doesn't as far as I know show everything they hold. The same, I believe, applies to Liverpool Archives

Source Information
Ancestry.com. Lancashire, England, Quarter Session Records and Petitions, 1648-1908 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Original data: Lancashire Quarter Sessions Records and Petitions, 17th–19th Century. Microfilm. Lancashire Record Office, Preston, England.

[BarbaraW]

That's great information, thank you very much Hilary.