We’re often asked what happened if the father of an illegitimate child did not pay maintenance to the mother. If a woman had taken the father to court and proved her case there would be a decree made. This decree would be legally binding.
For example Mary Irving who lived at Marjoribanks in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland had a child on the 19th of November 1871. At Dumfries Sheriff Court on 26 April and 7th Mary 1872 Mary pursued her case against William Richardson.
William Richardson is described in the case as the son of and residing with David Richardson, Farmer at Riggside, Lochmaben. David is ordered to pay Mary four pounds yearly as aliment for her child. He was to pay until the child was 10 years old. David was also to pay half-yearly and in advance.
What did David do? Often the decree is the last mention of the case in the records. Our recent indexing project of prison records has uncovered more. We’ve just added an index to Dumfries (Maxwelltown) Civil Prisoners. In this register, we have found many men sent to the person for not paying aliment of children. One of these men is William Richardson.
Interestingly he was sent to prison on 6 August 1872 for a debt he failed to settle with William Wright. The debt with William was settled a few days later but not the debt to Mary Irving. He languished in prison until 7 September 1872.
For now, these entries are in the prison index on our website with a note, ‘Aliment of a child’. In time we will add these to the Scottish Paternity Index too.
You never know what you will find in historical records. Search over 400,000 Scottish criminal records in Scotland's Criminal Database: https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.aspx
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