Birth certificate - why is "illegitimate" crossed out?

[Jang]

The birth certificate for Margaret COOK born 24 November 1882 at 4 Maryland Buildings, Halfway House, Govan Parish, gives her parents as:
John Cook, engine fitter, journeyman
Catherine Gardiner, farm servant, wife of Alexander Ramsay, iron ship fitter, who deserted her on 14 June 1880.
Both mother and father were the informants.
The word "illegitimate" has been crossed out with the notation "clerical error in Edi?" - looks like Edinburgh

Why would "illegitimate" have been crossed out? What made Margaret's birth legitimate?

Jan

[AndrewP]

Hi Jan,

I've had a look at the certificate, and can make out a bit more of what is written in the left margin.

Clerical
Error in
Col 4 ......

It looks like it says column 4, where I would have expected it to say column 1, where the change was made. On looking at the parents' details there is nothing to imply why this child was not born illegitimate. The change was made at the time of the registration.

Had it been changed at a later date, such as if it had been found that her husband (who it says had deserted the marriage) had died before the date of conception (hence she would have been available to marry at that time), and she had later married the father of the child, this would have legitimised the birth. However if such a marriage happened after the birth was registered it would have legitimised the birth, and it would have been notified on the birth certificate with an RCE (entry in the Register of Corrected Entries) annotation.

The only way to know for sure what is written there is for you to fill in a contact form on the ScotlandsPeople site. That can be accessed on the page where you click to view or download the certificate. Tell them there is writing in the margin that cannot be made out on the image that is on the website. Normally they will do a new scan and e-mail that to you, and e-mail that to you. Hopefully that will be clearer as to what is written there.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Montrose Budie]

If the birth was originally illegitimate, then if the parents married at a later date and had been free to marry at the time of the birth involved (some say conception) then it was open to the parents to request the registrar to add an annotation, "legitimised (or legitimated) by subsequent marriage", but note that the registrar couldn't do so on his own initiative.

A very famous Scottish comedian is shown as illegitimate on his birth register entry. His parents married a week or so later, but there is no such annotation on his birth register entry, so it can only be assumed that his parents never made the required request.

Some biographers still wrongly state that he was illegitimate.

mb

[Jang]

I wonder if the birth was considered legitimate because the mother was a married woman, even though her husband wasn't the father?

[Montrose Budie]

I wonder if the birth was considered legitimate because the mother was a married woman, even though her husband wasn't the father?

Now that's an entirely different situation !

If the husband was still alive then the presumption in Scots Law is that he was the father, so that the kid was not illegitimate.

Sounds to me like the registrar got this one badly wrong, hence The fact that ''illegitimate' has been scored out

mb

[Jang]

Even though John Cook is listed as the father on the certificate?

[Montrose Budie]

Even though John Cook is listed as the father on the certificate?

Even so !

mb