The women whose illegitimate children were boarded out in 1830 -1837 were usually middleaged women with more than one child born out of wedlock.
It is hard to believe that their children were in a more vulnerable position than those born within wedlock.
She was institutionalized for being "immoral," having a child out of wedlock.
On the other hand, this new law signified a new trend of couples cohabiting and children being born out of wedlock.
And they also of course run an enhanced risk of her bringing shame upon them by conceiving children in their house and out of wedlock.
While illegitimacy ratios relate the illegitimate to total births, illegitimacy rates relate births out of wedlock to the unmarried females capable of producing such infants.
Therefore, the presence or absence of official wedlock should not be the criterion on which to treat the two women differently.
Thus, thirty-two of the unwanted children were born out of wedlock as against nine of the control children.
