Had an errand from my mum last week - get a copy of her dad's birth certificate. He died when she was 18, but she has a great love and admiration for him. Anyway, it appears he was born out of wedlock to his mother who was in domestice service at the time and mum wanted to know if there was a "father" named on the certificate - I think she was hoping for a link to nobility somewhere along the line! After lots of waiting (and lots of Leigh telling me there'd been phone calls saying the certificate couldn't be released because of national security (royalty!) considerations) - it finally arrived, but was blank!
I think mum suspected that was what it would be, but interesting all the same. Makes you think as well - Mabel was only 18 when she had Ernest and was in service in Eastbourne far away from her family in Cambridgeshire, having to cope with that all on her own, and not married (it was 1909). Poor girl.
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