Genealogy Chat

I've done a search of this forum, but can't find anything recent/relevant, so I wonder if someone can help me?

My great-grandfather was illegitimate. No father's name on the birth certificate (1851), but he was given an unusual middle name, 'Rumsba', which I later deduced should be 'Rumsby'. I think perhaps his mother couldn't write so had dictated the name to the registrar who did his best with it.

When Henry Rumsby Smith got married, he gave his father's name on the marriage certificate as 'Thomas Smith'. I think his mother either lied to him, or he fudged the issue.

His mother was a Mary Smith, living at home in Swardestone, Norfolk. The year after he was born, she married a William Clarke, who adopted young Henry as his own (still recorded as 'Smith').

Tell me if this deduction is reasonable:

At the time of Henry's birth, a Thomas Rumsby, 21 years old, was working as a groom at nearby Intwood. His family (found in the previous census, when Thomas was twelve) lived at nearby East Carleton. I'm assuming young Thomas Rumsby is the father of Mary's child, my great-grandfather, Henry Rumsby Smith.

That being so, where would I look for bastardy papers? How do I find out which court would have jurisdiction, and which newspaper might have covered the court reporting for that area?

Many thanks for reading this far - and for any help!

Norfolk Records Office might have Bastardy Orders or the father may have been named on the baptism.

Thank you - I'll have to make a trip to the NRO!

I can't find any record of a baptism online. Perhaps I'll find that at the NRO too?

County Norfolk
Place Swardeston
Church St Mary Tr
RegisterNumber 387
DateOfBirth
BaptismDate 06 Feb 1851
Forename Henry
Sex -
FatherForename
MotherForename Mary
FatherSurname
MotherSurname SMITH
Abode
FatherOccupation
FileNumber 7871

(a possible Baptism, from below link)

http://www.freereg.org.uk/cgi/Search.pl

Chris :)

Thanks for that, Chris - I appreciate the look-up!

Seems I needn't look any further for that one - no more info there. :(

Baptism does actually say illigitimate son of Mary Smith and baptism date is 16th,not 6th.
Eileen

Thank you, Eileen! It's nice to have the illegitimacy confirmed, and thanks also for the date correction.

Although it's not the original parish register, but the BTs (the church's own backup copy), you can check the image yourself at:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1®ion=UNITED_KINGDOM_IRELAND
You want:
England, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts, 1685-1941 > Norfolk > Archdeaconry of Norfolk > 1851 > S-Y > Image 169 of 332

Incidentally, I think your Rumsby hypothesis is likely correct.

Oh, that's wonderful, mgnv! Thank you so much! I hadn't even searched the BTs or ATs because I'd heard that there were very few in existence for Norfolk. That will teach me not to listen to all I hear, but to check for myself!

So that means that there may very well be something in the Overseer's Accounts, if only I can find them! I need that trip to the NRO!

Thanks again, everyone. You've all be most helpful. :)

Just found the parish record at:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1®ion=UNITED_KINGDOM_IRELAND
This collection's only partly indexed, so you have to "Browse through 293,422 images"
What you want is:
England, Norfolk Parish Registers, 1538-1900 > Swardeston > Baptisms > 1813-1901 > Image 27 of 53

Wow, how kind of you to trawl through all those records for me! Thank you, so much!

Not much doubt about poor Henry's illegitimacy now, is there?

Thanks also for pointing me to a wonderful resource that I'd missed. Indexed or not, it's a goldmine of information.