The article does not make it clear which period of time they are talking about, nor which strata of society.
By the late nineteenth century, informal relationships were fairly common in cities, where the authorities were less able to keep tabs on people.
While a father might demand parental rights over an illegitimate child, I suspect it is reported by virtue of its rarity. Most men had to be dragged kicking and screaming to accept their responsibilities for the child's maintenance.
The seven years old bit is because that was the age that pauper children were put out as parish apprentices.
__________________
The chestnuts cast their flambeaux
|