Legitimisation

thomsj1 · Post by **thomsj1** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:52 am

Hi

I've just found the birth certificate for my Gt GT Grand Aunt Martha Plunkett who was born on 7th December 1887. She was listed as illegitimate but her parents were living together which must have raised a few eyes back then. They did eventually get married on 7th December 1888 on Martha's first birthday which is a nice touch.

What is unusual about Marta's birth certificate is the entry in the left hand corner where you might expect see a reference to an RCE. Instead there is an oval stamp with 'Legitimisation' on it and a narrative which reads 'Re-registered on 2nd December 1942'.

Does anyone have and idea why this amendment would have been made so long after her birth ?

Regards

Jim

David Lang · Post by **David Lang** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 12:58 pm

I think in Scotland when parents marry after the birth of a child , the child is then legitimised in the eye of the law.

It maybe that she never needed to be "legitimised" till 1942 or she felt the need to prove that she was legitimate

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 2:28 pm

As long as the parents were free to marry at the time of the conception, the subsequent marriage of the parents automatically legitimated the child in the eyes of Scots Law.

It was open to the parents, but not compulsory, for the original birth register entry to be annotated to this effect via an RCE entry.

In this case, that was not done, but Martha Plunkett decided in 1942, for whatever reason, that she wanted a birth certificate that reflected the true situation rather than the situation as shown on the original birth register entry showing her as illegitimate.

It's not at all unusual to come across situations involving such a lapse of time, - my longest to date is 65 years

David