Born Into Bastardy: The Out-of-Wedlock Child in Early Victorian Cape Town

Abstract

“Born into Bastardy” contributes to research into family life and law as it evolved in South Africa's “mother city” from the seventeenth century. It traces the legal framework in which illegitimacy occurred and the experience of out-of-wedlock children when the father was absent or negligent in providing support. Histories of illegitimacy lead to considerations of the destruction of unwanted children by abortion and infanticide, or their abandonment to custodial care. The early years of Victoria's reign coincided with the emancipation of slaves throughout the British Empire. The fact that Cape Town had been home to slaves for whom marriage was proscribed until very recent times affects significantly this account of children born into bastardy.