200 Years Ago in Norwich : Sentenced to Three Months Tread Wheel for Non-Performance of Bastardy Order
In my little series of posts from 200 years ago, there’s a one line article on the court reports for 1825 that reads:
“By the decision of magistrates, Charles Smith, for non-performance of an order of bastardy – three months tread wheel”.
The tread wheel was a relatively new invention at this time, having been designed by Sir William Cubitt and introduced in the prisons of Bury St Edmunds and Brixton. The punishment varied, but Charles was likely on the tread wheel for around six hours a day, which must have been healthy but also tiring and probably rather annoying to say the least.
The concept of bastardy orders has roots in English common law, where children born to unmarried parents were deemed filius nullius, meaning “child of no one”, which does feel a slightly harsh way for a youngster to start their life. These children lacked legal standing in society and were prohibited from inheriting property from their father unless legitimised, which could be done rather more easily for the landed gentry. These children could not claim support from their parents, and the responsibility for their care initially fell upon monasteries and local councils. The Poor Law of 1733 in England stipulated that the putative father was responsible for maintaining his illegitimate child. Local authorities would issue public funds to maintain the mother and child until the father could assume responsibility.
The 1834 New Poor Law in England introduced a Bastardy Clause, representing something of a significant shift in social and legal approaches to illegitimacy. This clause shifted the responsibility for illegitimate children from the parish to the mother and this change aimed to deter illegitimacy and reduce the cost of poor relief by placing the burden on unmarried mothers . The Bastardy Clause was rooted in the principle of “less eligibility”, which sought to make workhouse conditions less desirable than even the lowest paying jobs, thereby discouraging reliance on poor relief. A Royal Commission into the changes that became the 1834 Poor Law stated that the existing system gave generous payments for illegitimate children and indemnified the mother against failure to marry, noting:
“The effect has been to promote bastardy; to make want of chastity on the woman’s part the shortest road to obtaining either a husband or a competent maintenance; and to encourage extortion and perjury.”
Charles Smith is too common a name for me to be able to work out much about him, but the parish officials would have made an Order which required him to pay for his child and it’s evident that he didn’t make those payments.
