Genealogy Forum UK

Hi everyone,hope you all had a lovely xmas,ive got another dilema in my research and need your help please, im trying to find out if my gre gre gre grandfather William Hairyes 1831 born thirsk/1890 died holbeck
was the adopted father of his wife Elizabeth Hoggs 1841/1882 daughter Emily hogg born 1862 Pannel Harragate/ died 1947 bramley ,leeds in 1871 emilys living with William and Elizabeth and his family in Pannel and then in 1881 in holbeck in Leeds would love to solve this myserty please was Emily Williams real daughter or did he treat Emily like a daughter or adopted her,any help as allways would be gratfully recived,many thanks and happy new year Nicholas

Hi
I think that since the 1871 census says "wife's daughter" and Emily's marriage entry (assuming I'm looking at the right one) gives no father then you can only conclude that Emily was not William's real daughter. I should think he just treated her like a daughter, I don't think a formal adoption was very common then but perhaps someone will know more about it and post.

Legal adoption didn't exist in the UK until the early 1920's!

It was introduced to help with the large number of single parent children after WW1.

According to the BBC the adoption register did not begin until 1927 but it also says "In the 19th century advertisements were placed for adoption, but frequently there was no formal adoption process at all."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhist ... ilysecrets

The Genealogist is a bit clearer: "Until 1927 there was no formal adoption process, although the term adoption was often applied to what we call guardianship or fostering. The legal process of adoption was introduced in 1927. The GRO holds the Adopted Childrens Register which records legal adoptions under the Adoptions Acts since 1 January 1927."
http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/researc ... id=1&p=262