83 Bastardry in Hoscar Moss Part 1, Section 1: 6 November 2024
Thomas and James Hankin
My great, great, great, great, great grandfather was Thomas Hankin;
Thomas Hankin was baptised on 3 March
1722 and he was nine when his father James died in 1731. By that stage Thomas was living at Hoscar
Moss with his surviving sibling and the majority of his immediate family
members were already dead. James Hankin,
older brother of Thomas did not die young.
Thomas married Elizabeth Culshaw on 15 November 1741. This means Elizabeth Culshaw was my great
grandmother five times removed.
James Hankin should have been able to have a prosperous, hard working
life but he threw away the opportunities available to him. James created pain and disaster for those around
him.
****
James Hankin Fathers an
Illegitimate Child in 1778
On 28 January 1778, the Court
of Quarter Sessions at Ormskirk issued a Summons requiring James Hankin to
appear in Court on 2 April 1778. The
Summons was issued after an application of “the churchwardens and overseers
of the Poor of the … Township of Lathom” An Affidavit sworn by Catherine
Culshaw was attached to the Summons; the Summons claimed that Catherine Culshaw,
a single woman, had given birth to a “female bastard child” in the
Township of Lathom.
There was a hearing on 2 April
1778 before Justices of the Peace called Robert Master and Thomas Baldwin. The Court declared Catherine Culshaw had
given birth to a female child on 8 January 1776 within the Parish of Ormskirk
and that James Hankin “husbandman” of Lathom was the child’s father and
that the child was likely to be “chargeable” to the Township of Lathom.
The Court made orders against
James Hankin and Catherine Culshaw “for the better relief of the … Township
of Lathom” and for the “sustentation and relief of the … bastard child”. This is a copy of the Court Orders
WHEREAS it hath appeared unto us the said justices, as well upon the
complaint of the churchwardens and overseers of the Poor of the said Township
of Lathom as upon the oath of the said Catherine Culshaw that the said
Catherine Culshaw on the Twenty eighth day of January 1776 now last past, was
delivered of a female bastard child at Lathom in the said parish of Ormskirk
in the said County, and that the said bastard child is likely to be
chargeable to the said Township of Lathom and further, James Hankin in the said
County Husbandman did beget the said bastard child on the body of the said
Catherine Culshaw. And whereas the said James Hankin hath appeared
before us in pursuance of our Summons for that purpose but hath not shown any
sufficient cause why he the said James Hankin shall not be the reputed father
of the said bastard child. We therefore, upon examination of the cause and circumstances of the premises as
well upon the oath of the said Catherine Culshaw as otherwise, do hereby
adjudge him the said James Hankin to be the reputed father of the said
bastard child. And thereupon we do
order, as well for the better relief of the
said Township of Lathom as for the sustentation and relief of the said
bastard child, that the said James Hankin shall and do forthwith, upon notice
of this order, pay or cause to be paid to the said churchwardens and overseers
of the poor of the said Township of Lathom, or to some or one of them, the
sum of six shillings for and towards the lying in of
the said Catherine Culshaw and the maintenance of the said bastard child, to
the time of making this our Order. And we do also hereby further order, that the said James Hankin
shall likewise pay or cause to be paid, to the churchwardens and overseers of
the poor of the said Township of Lathom for the time being, or to some or one
of them, the sum of eight pence weekly and every week from the present time,
for and towards the keeping, sustentation, and maintenance of the said bastard
child, for and during so long time as the said bastard
child shall be chargeable to the said Township of Lathom. And we do further order that the said
Catherine Culshaw shall also pay or cause to be paid to the said
churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the said Township of Lathom for
the time being, or to some or one of them, the sum of eightpence weekly and
every week, so long as the said bastard child shall be chargeable to the said
Township of Lathom in case she shall not nurse and take care of the said
child herself. Given under our hands
and seals the day and year first above written. |
This is a plain English
translation of the Orders.
·
James Hankin had to
pay £0/6/0 (six shillings) to the “the churchwardens and overseers of the
Poor of the … Township of Lathom” to cover the cost of “the lying in
of … Catherine Culshaw” and the maintenance of her child to the date of the
Orders.
·
As well as the £0/6/-,
James Hankin was ordered to pay £0/0/8 (eight pence) per week from 2 April 1778 to cover the costs of maintenance for
the child during any period when the Township of Lathom had to provide welfare
to the child..
·
Catherine Culshaw
had to pay £0/0/8 (eight pence) per week from 2 April 1778 for every week that
the child was a liability to the Township of Lathom.
****
My five times removed great uncle di not simply father a child who was
born outside of marriage. He had then
abandoned both the mother of the child and the child to fend for themselves in
a society where both unmarried mothers and their children were routinely
punished by more “upright” members of that society.
I never knew him, but I think my five times removed great uncle was an unpleasant
human being. Although his daughter was
stuck with the label of being a “bastard”, the actual bastard was my five times
removed real uncle James Hankin..
****
James Hankin abandoned Catherine Culshaw and his daughter to their fate
in the coldest winter England had to endure in more than 1,000 years. The weather in 1778 was colder than the hard,
hard heart of my great uncle James.
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