Education, Occupation, and Marriage

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines the life chances of middling and elite illegitimate individuals. Using a prosopographical database of 225 children and grandchildren of peers, the chapter quantifies the effect of illegitimacy on life chances by comparing illegitimate children with their legitimate half-siblings or cousins and allowing for differences in gender and birth order. Quantitative analysis of the database is supplemented by qualitative analysis of the letters and diaries of middling and elite families. It argues that illegitimacy had a measurable negative effect on social status: illegitimate individuals married at a later age, married lower down the social scale, and were less likely to achieve markers of power, such as office and landholding. The chapter explores the nuances behind this disadvantage. Illegitimate men fared worse than illegitimate women due to the impact of illegitimacy on markers of genteel masculinity. Their position was markedly worse to that of legitimate younger sons. Mixed-race and white children followed similar trajectories, suggesting that illegitimacy had a greater impact than race on socio-economic status. The chapter indicates that families made specific, pragmatic decisions about the prospects of illegitimate children. Families gave illegitimate children a cheaper, more practical education focused on financial self-sufficiency, whilst encouraging them into occupations and marriages that would keep them within the status and influence of their paternal family. Throughout, the chapter examines individuals’ ability to remain within their father’s social class, measured through their access to opportunities for power and social connections.