October 16, 1936, Public Assistance Journal and Health & Hospital Review

A sad tale in this week’s Queries and Replies column that these days would probably make it onto the Jeremy Kyle Show. A reader writes to ask about maintenance payments for a child. A clause in the separation agreement of a married couple is, rather staggeringly, that the wife is to ‘lead a chaste life’. Now after three years of separation the wife is pregnant and has been admitted to a public assistance institution. The husband has stopped paying maintenance, arguing that she has committed adultery.

The woman says that X is the father. ‘She states she only went with X on one occasion’ but X denies all responsibility.

Could either the husband or X be made to contribute?

The answer appeared to be no, unless evidence could be produced to corroborate the woman’s story. What would that woman have given for a DNA test?