Kaol
I think the Lady of Clucking things has it: 'Fallen from Grace' was the phrase I was thinking of. Fairly common until surprisingly recent times, the Abigail (servant girl) would be shipped off once impregnated, and was seen to be 'of feeble mind' (which was a medical diagnosis) and promptly sectioned. Sprog would be adopted if it survived, mother might never get out. Ever.

The bloke, if of superior class, simply coughed up a few shiny sovereigns. If equally inferior, he quite often legged it to the nearest Army recruiter, took the Shilling, and headed off into the Empire to be shot by a Fuzzy-Wuzzy.

Don't even ask what went on in Ireland even more recently. Suffice to say that Nuns are the Penguins of The Devil.
(osok Rebel without a clue, Mon 21 Apr 2008, 12:32, Reply)