The war babies: no definite information obtainable – archive, 27 April 1915

27 April 1915: With the establishment of military camps all over the country, a very large proportion of illegitimate children must be the children of soldiers

Dr. Barbara Tchaikovsky, who has for weeks been trying to secure definite information as to the approximate number of illegitimate births likely to occur owing to the establishment of military camps all over the country, told a representative of the “Manchester Guardian” that it was practically impossible to form any estimate. She hears that in one county town the authorities have taken a house to establish a maternity home; that in two or three others the guardians are building additional wings to the workhouse expressly for these mothers, and that a woman patrol in a south coast town quotes 400 as the number of prospective mothers.

The reply from Birmingham is that there is no information. Her informant in Glasgow writes “Big figures are quoted, though there is no definite information, but no one can doubt that soldiers’ children are to be numerous.” Mr. W. Astor, M.P. for Plymouth, which has been quoted as a centre of the trouble, wrote that “while one hears of many cases it is impossible to obtain figures.” “I am told,” wrote a Scotswoman, “that in Scottish town with a population of 9,000 there are 200 cases, but this can hardly be believed.”

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from Children | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2q8kvwA