Birth Certificates

I remember seeing my mother's birth certificate in the late 1950s and it had the word ILLEGITIMATE stamped diagonally across it. The certificate was issued in 1910. I have a current one which is normal but I am curious as to when this stopped happening.

 

Was your mother born in USA? Because it was stamped there. Look for the heading 'Adoption Sets the Precedent' in this link

 

My mother was born at Twyford House, Acton Lane, Willesden, Middlesex. This was one of London's Work Houses.

 

My mother-in-law was born in a workhouse in 1906. I have the workhouse register of births, there is a Remarks column and the only words in the column are legitimate or illegitimate.
She lost her birth certificate during her travels to and from UK and NZ therefore I never got to see it. I am not surprised because she was very cagy about her background and wouldn't have wanted us to see it.
She obtained a copy in 1986, which I have a scanned copy of, and the spaces for father's name and father's occupation have a line across the middle.

Quite frankly I am amazed about the stamp across the original cert and do wonder if somebody had added it some time after it was issued. Possibly a 'carer' or a school teacher with a grudge to bear.
No doubt it would have been highly embarrassing for your mother.

 

I hope you know about Higginbotham's Workhouse website, if not this page is Willesden.
Just out of interest have you been able to locate your mother's workhouse birth record? If so, did you see who or where she was discharged to? Because it might be where the stamp was applied to the cert, wild guess

 

I have been unable to find any records from Twyford House. The 1911 Census shows her adopted, but this could not have lasted long as she was in foster care in Hounslow Middx, at age 4.