TY - BOOK ID - 118061573 TI - Illegitimacy, family and stigma in England, 1660 -1834 PY - 2022 SN - 0192867245 9780192867247 PB - Oxford Oxford University Press DB - UniCat KW - Illegitimacy KW - Bastardy KW - Legitimacy (Law) KW - Parent and child (Law) KW - Sex and law KW - Paternity KW - History KW - Law and legislation KW - England KW - Social conditions UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:118061573 AB - "Illegitimacy, Family and Stigma is the first full-length exploration of what it was like to be illegitimate in eighteenth-century England. In a major reframing of assumptions that illegitimacy was experienced only among the poor, this book tells the stories of individuals from across the socio-economic scale, including children of royalty, middling physicians and lawyers, alongside servants and agricultural labourers. Using the words of illegitimate individuals and their families preserved in letters, diaries, poor relief and court documents, this book reveals the impact of illegitimacy across the life cycle. How did illegitimacy affect children's early years, and their relationships with parents, siblings and wider family as they grew up? Did illegitimacy limit education, occupation or marriage chances? What were individuals' experiences of shame and stigma, and how did being illegitimate affect their sense of identity? This book investigates the circumstances that governed families' responses, from love and pragmatic acceptance, to secrecy and exclusion"-- ER -