Somewhere among our English or Welsh ancestors most of us find at least one instance of illegitimacy, either in the direct line or among close collateral relations.

There are a few generally known facts about the topic. Bastard children suffered because their parents did not conform to what was considered moral behavior, local authorities would do their best to avoid costs, and records exist relating to identifying fathers and obtaining support payments. Some of us have used these records, either those generated locally and found among the collective collections known as records of the parish chest, or those from the court of quarter sessions.

Not many see the need to understand the intricacies of the law, but the legal background is interesting and could be useful to a search. There is certainly good evidence of this in a recent book, My Ancestor Was a Bastard, by Ruth Paley and published by the Society of Genealogists, (2004)...

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