Posthumous birth
A posthumous birth is a birth of a child after the death of a parent.[1] A person born in these circumstances is called a posthumous child or a posthumously born person. Most instances of posthumous birth involve the birth of a child after the death of its father, but the term is also applied to infants delivered after the death of the mother, usually by caesarean section.[2]
Legal implications
Posthumous birth has special implications in law, potentially affecting the child's citizenship and legal rights, inheritance, and order of succession. Legal systems generally include special provisions regarding inheritance by posthumous children and the legal status of such children. For example, Massachusetts law states that a posthumous child is treated as having been living at the death of the parent,[3] meaning that the child receives the same share of the parent's estate as if the child had been born before the parent's death. Another emerging legal issue in the United States is the control of genetic material after the death of the donor.[4] United States law holds that posthumous children of U.S. citizens who are born outside the United States have the same rights to citizenship that they would have had if the deceased U.S. citizen parent had been alive at the time of their birth.[5]
In monarchies
A posthumous birth has special significance in the case of hereditary monarchies following primogeniture. In this system, a monarch's own child precedes that monarch's sibling in the order of succession. In cases where the widow of a childless king is pregnant at the time of his death, the next-in-line is not permitted to assume the throne, but must yield place to the unborn child, or ascends and reigns until the child is born. In monarchies that follow male-preference cognatic primogeniture, the situation is similar where the dead monarch was not childless but left a daughter as the next-in-line, as well as a pregnant widow. A posthumous brother would supplant that daughter in the succession, whereas a posthumous sister, being younger, would not. Similarly, in monarchies that follow agnatic primogeniture, the sex of the unborn child determines the succession; a posthumous male child would himself succeed, whereas the next-in-line would succeed upon the birth of a posthumous female child.
Modern complications
Posthumous conception by artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization, whether done using sperm or ova stored before a parent's death or sperm retrieved from a man's corpse, has created new legal issues.[3] When a woman is inseminated with her deceased husband's sperm, laws that establish that a sperm donor is not the legal father of the child born as a result of artificial insemination have had the effect of excluding the deceased husband from fatherhood and making the child legally fatherless.[6] In the United Kingdom before 2000, birth records of children conceived using a dead man's sperm had to identify the infants as fatherless, but in 2000 the government announced that the law would be changed to allow the deceased father's name to be listed on the birth certificate.[7] In 1986 a New South Wales legal reform commission recommended that the law should recognize the deceased husband as the father of a child born from post-mortem artificial insemination, provided that the woman is his widow and unmarried at the time of birth, but the child should have inheritance rights to the father's estate only if the father left a will that included specific provisions for the child.[7] In 2001, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court was asked to consider whether the father's name should appear on the birth record for a child conceived through artificial insemination after her father's death, as well as whether that child was eligible for U.S. Social Security benefits. The court ruled in January 2002 that a child could be the legal heir of a dead parent if there was a genetic relationship and the deceased parent had both agreed to the posthumous conception and committed to support the child.[3] Different U.S. state courts and federal appellate courts have ruled differently in similar cases. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Astrue v. Capato that twins born 18 months after their father's death using the father's frozen sperm were not eligible for Social Security benefits, which set a new precedent.
Naming
In the Middle Ages, it was traditional for posthumous children born in England to be given a matronymic surname instead of a patronymic one. This may in part explain why matronyms are more common in England than in other parts of Europe.[8]
Notable people born posthumously
| Name | Born | Late parent | Parent died | Gap | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander IV of Macedon | August 323 BCE | Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon | 11 June 323 BCE | 2 months | |
| Shapur II 10th king of the Sasanian Empire (309-379) | 309 | Hormizd II 8th king (302-309) | 309 | Shapur is believed to be the only monarch in history who was crowned in utero | |
| Muhammad Prophet of Islam | c. 570 | Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib | January 571 | 6 months | |
| Robert I King of France | 15 August 866 | Robert the Strong | 2 July 866 | 6 weeks | Robert the Strong died at the Battle of Brissarthe |
| Charles III "The Simple" King of France | 17 September 879 | Louis the Stammerer | 10 April 879 | 5 months | |
| Lothair III Holy Roman Emperor | 1075 | Gebhard of Supplinburg | 9 June 1075 | ? | Born "shortly after" his father's death |
| Baldwin V King of Jerusalem | August 1177 | William of Montferrat, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon | June 1177 | 2 months | |
| Arthur I Duke of Brittany | 29 March 1187 | Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany | 19 August 1186 | 7 months | |
| Theobald I King of Navarre | 30 May 1201 | Theobald III, Count of Champagne | 24 May 1201 | 6 days | |
| St Raymond Nonnatus Catalan religious | 1204 | His mother | 1204 | - | Believed to have been delivered from his mother's womb after she died during childbirth.[2] |
| Przemysł II King of Poland | 14 October 1257 | Przemysł I of Greater Poland | 4 June 1257 | 4 months | |
| John I "The Posthumous" King of France | 15 November 1316 | King Louis X of France | 5 June 1316 | 5 months | He lived for only six days, but was a king for his entire short life. |
| John, 3rd Earl of Kent | 7 April 1330 | Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent | 19 March 1330 | 19 days | Edmund was executed |
| William of Bavaria-Munich | 1435 | William III, Duke of Bavaria | 12 September 1435 | up to 3 months | He also died in 1435 |
| Ladislaus the Posthumous King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia, Duke of Austria | 22 February 1440 | King Albert II of Germany | 27 October 1439 | 4 months | |
| Henry VII King of England | 28 January 1457 | Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond | 1 or 3 November 1456 | 3 months | |
| John Louis Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken | 19 October 1472 | Johann II of Nassau-Saarbrücken | 15 July 1472 | 3 months | |
| Pope Clement VII | 26 May 1478 | Giuliano de' Medici | 26 April 1478 | 1 month | Giuliano was assassinated in the Pazzi Conspiracy |
| Alexander Stewart Duke of Ross | 30 April 1514 | King James IV of Scotland | 9 September 1513 | 7 months | His father King James IV died at the Battle of Flodden; Alexander died at the age of only 20 months, but during his short life he was heir presumptive to the throne of the Kingdom of Scotland |
| Françoise d'Orléans-Longueville | 5 April 1549 | François d'Orléans, Marquis of Rothelin, Prince of Chalet-Aillon, Viscount of Melun | 25 October 1548 | 5 months | |
| Sebastian King of Portugal | 20 January 1554 | João Manuel, Prince of Portugal | 2 January 1554 | 18 days | Upon his birth, Sebastian immediately became Crown Prince |
| Ben Jonson Elizabethan playwright | c. 11 June 1572 | April 1572 | 2 months | ||
| Frederick William II Duke of Saxe-Altenburg | 12 February 1603 | Frederick William I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar | 7 July 1602 | 7 months | |
| St Joseph of Cupertino Italian mystic | 17 June 1603 | Felice Desa | ? | ? | |
| François-Henri de Montmorency Duke of Luxembourg | 8 January 1628 | François de Montmorency-Bouteville | 22 June 1627 | 6 months | His father was executed for dueling |
| Sir Isaac Newton English scientist, mathematician | 4 January 1643 | Isaac Newton, Sr. | ? | 3 months | |
| William III King of England and Ireland | 14 November 1650 | William II, Prince of Orange | 6 November 1650 | 8 days | He was born Prince of Orange; aka William II of Scotland |
| Adolphus Frederick II Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | 19 October 1658 | Adolf Frederick I, Duke of Mecklenburg | 27 February 1658 | 3 months | |
| Jonathan Swift Irish writer (Gulliver's Travels) | 30 November 1667 | Jonathan Swift, Sr | ? | 7 months | |
| William August Duke of Saxe-Eisenach | 30 November 1668 | Adolf William, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach | 21 November 1668 | 9 days | |
| Edward Ward, 9th Baron Dudley | 16 June 1704 | Edward Ward, 8th Baron Dudley | 28 March 1704[9] | 10 weeks | |
| Georg Wilhelm Richmann German physicist | 22 July 1711 | ||||
| William IV Prince of Orange | 1 September 1711 | John William Friso, Prince of Orange | 14 July 1711 | 6 weeks | |
| Robert Petre, 8th Baron Petre British peer and horticulturist | 3 June 1713 | Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre | 22 March 1713 | 10 weeks | |
| John Morton U.S. politician | 1725 | John Morton, Sr. | 1725 | ||
| Sir Brook Bridges, 3rd Baronet | 17 September 1733 | Sir Brook Bridges, 2nd Bt | 23 May 1733[10] | 4 months | |
| Caroline Matilda Queen Consort of King Christian VII of Denmark | 11 July 1751 | Frederick, Prince of Wales | 20 March 1751 | 4 months | |
| Thomas Chatterton English poet and forger | 20 November 1752 | Thomas Chatterton, Sr. | 7 August 1752[11] | 15 weeks | |
| Benedict Joseph Flaget U.S. bishop | 7 November 1763 | ||||
| Andrew Jackson President of the United States | 15 March 1767 | Andrew Jackson, Sr. | February 1767 | 3 weeks | His father was killed in a lumber accident |
| Tenskwatawa Native American leader, Shawnee Prophet | 1775 | Pukeesheno | ? | ? | |
| Arthur MacArthur, Sr. Scottish born lawyer, Governor of Wisconsin | 26 January 1815 | 19 January 1815 | 7 days | Paternal grandfather of General Douglas MacArthur | |
| Henri, Count of Chambord French prince and pretender to the throne | 29 September 1820 | Charles Ferdinand, duc de Berry | 14 February 1820 | 7 months | |
| Rutherford B. Hayes 19th President of the United States 1877-81 | 4 October 1822 | Rutherford Hayes Jr | 20 July 1822 | 10 weeks | |
| Anna Leonowens British teacher and co-subject of The King and I | 5 November 1831 | Thomas Edwards | 3 months | ||
| David Hyrum Smith | 7 November 1844 | Joseph Smith Founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement | 27 June 1844 | 5 months | Death of Joseph Smith |
| Horace Tabberer Brown British chemist | 1848 | ||||
| Samuel Alexander Australian-born philosopher | 1859 | Born shortly after his father's death. | |||
| George Washington Carver U.S. botanical researcher and educator | c. 1864 | His father was killed | |||
| Harry "The Breaker" Morant Australian soldier and folk hero | 9 December 1864 | Edwin Murrant | August 1864 | 4 months | Morant was born Edwin Henry Murrant |
| Frank Anstey Australian politician | 18 August 1865 | Samuel Anstey | ? | 5 months | |
| George Washington Thomas Lambert Russian-born Australian artist, father of Constant Lambert | 13 September 1873 | George Washington Lambert | 25 July 1873 | 7 weeks | His father was an American who died in London |
| Carl Adolph Schuricht German conductor | 3 July 1880 | Carl Conrad Schuricht | ? | 3 weeks | His father drowned in the Baltic Sea while trying to save a friend in distress |
| Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | 19 July 1884 | Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany | 28 March 1884 | 4 months | |
| Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz U.S. admiral | 24 February 1885 | Chester Bernard Nimitz | 14 August 1884 | 6 months | |
| Clara Sipprell Canadian photographer | 31 October 1885 | ||||
| Alfonso XIII King of Spain | 17 May 1886 | King Alfonso XII | 25 November 1885 | 6 months | |
| Mabel Mercer UK/US jazz singer | 3 Feb 1900 | - | ? | ? | [12] |
| Stanley Kunitz Lithuanian-U.S. poet | 29 July 1905 | June 1905 | 6 weeks | His father committed suicide by ingesting carbolic acid in a public park, after going bankrupt | |
| Johan Kjær Hansen Executed Danish resistance fighter | 7 April 1907 | Hans Christian Johan Andreas Hansen | 13 December 1906 | 4 months | His father died aged 34 near the methodist church in Hjørring[13] |
| Xiao Qian Chinese essayist | 27 January 1910 | ||||
| John Jacob Astor VI | 14 August 1912 | John Jacob Astor IV | 15 April 1912 | 4 months | His father drowned in the sinking of the RMS Titanic |
| Red Skelton U.S. actor and comedian | 18 July 1913 | Born shortly after the death of his father | |||
| Georg Brockhoff Quistgaard Executed Danish resistance fighter | 19 February 1915 | Georg Brockhoff Quistgaard | 18 December 1914 | 2 months | His namesake father died in Rigshospitalet aged 40 |
| Alfred Shaughnessy English writer and television producer | 19 May 1916 | Alfred Shaughnessy | 2 months | His namesake father was killed in the First World War | |
| Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Russian novelist | 11 December 1918 | Isaakiy Semyonovich Solzhenitsyn | 15 June 1918 | 6 months | His father was killed in a hunting accident shortly after his wife's pregnancy was confirmed |
| John Mitchum US actor | 6 September 1919 | James Mitchum | February 1919 | 7 months | His father was killed in a railyard accident |
| Alexandra of Yugoslavia Queen Consort of King Peter II of Yugoslavia | 25 March 1921 | Alexander King of Greece | 25 October 1920 | 5 months | Alexander died from the effects of a monkey bite |
| Elisabeth of Austria Archduchess of Austria | 31 May 1922 | Charles I of Austria | 1 April 1922 | 2 months | Charles had earlier been deposed but had never formally abdicated |
| Stephen Wurm Hungarian-Australian linguist | 19 August 1922 | Adolphe Wurm | |||
| Anthony Earnshaw English anarchist | 9 October 1924 | ||||
| Felipe Rodríguez Puerto Rican singer | 8 May 1926 | ||||
| Earl Holliman U.S. actor | 11 September 1928 | 6 months | |||
| Itamar Franco 33rd President of Brazil | 28 June 1930 | Augusto César Stiebler Franco | April 1930 | 2 months | Itamar was born at sea prematurely in a cabotage ship two months after his father died of malaria.[14] |
| Thomas Sowell U.S. economist | 30 June 1930 | ||||
| Brian Sewell* British art critic | 15 July 1931 | Peter Warlock* (Philip Heseltine) | 17 December 1930 | 7 months | Warlock died either accidentally or by suicide (the inquest delivered an open finding); * Sewell has only since 1986 claimed to be Warlock's son |
| Don Durant U.S. actor | 20 November 1932 | 2 months | His father was killed in a truck accident | ||
| Margaret O'Brien U.S. actress | 15 January 1937 | Lawrence O'Brien | c. 1936 | ||
| Lee Harvey Oswald Assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy | 18 October 1939 | Robert Edward Lee Oswald | 19 August 1939 | 2 months | |
| Sir Henry Cecil British champion racehorse trainer | 11 January 1943 | Lt. Hon. Henry Kerr Auchmuty Cecil | 30 Nov - 2 Dec 1942[15] | 6 weeks[15] or 2 weeks[16] | His father was killed on active service with the Parachute Regiment in North Africa[16] |
| Sylvester McCoy Scottish actor (Doctor Who) | 20 August 1943 | Percy Kent-Smith | 18 July 1943 | 1 month | His father was killed in World War II |
| Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 3rd Bt British explorer and adventurer | 7 March 1944 | Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 2nd Bt | 24 November 1943 | 3 months | His father was killed in action at the Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy |
| Bernard Collaery Australian lawyer and politician | 12 October 1944 | 4 months | His father died on active service | ||
| Frederica von Stade U.S. operatic soprano | 1 June 1945 | Charles S. von Stade | 10 April 1945 | 2 months | Her father was killed in Germany in World War II when his jeep ran over a land mine |
| Bill Clinton President of the United States 1993-2001 | 19 August 1946 | William Jefferson Blythe, Jr. | 17 May 1946 | 3 months | His father drowned following a car accident |
| Peter Kocan Australian attempted assassin of Federal Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell in 1966; later a noted poet | 4 May 1947 | 3 months | His father was killed in a road accident | ||
| Jett Williams U.S. singer | 6 January 1953 | Hank Williams | 1 January 1953 | 5 days | Her father, also a singer, died of alcohol- and drug-fueled heart failure |
| Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority CEO and chairman of The Emirates Group Chairman of Dubai World | 1 December 1958 | Saeed bin Hasher Al Maktoum Ruler of Dubai | 1958 | ? | |
| Tyrone Power Jr. U.S. actor | 22 January 1959 | Tyrone Power | 15 November 1958 | 2 months | His father died of a heart attack while filming Solomon and Sheba on location in Madrid, Spain |
| Antwone Fisher U.S. author, screenwriter and film producer | 3 August 1959 | Eddie Elkins | 2 months | He was born in prison; his father was shot by a jealous girlfriend 2 months earlier | |
| Yves Amu Klein French artist | 6 August 1962 | Yves Klein | 6 June 1962 | 2 months | His father died of a heart attack |
| Rory Kennedy U.S. documentary film maker | 12 December 1968 | Robert F. Kennedy | 6 June 1968 | 6 months | Her father was assassinated during the 1968 Presidential election campaign |
| Brandon Teena Hate crime murder victim | 12 December 1972 | Patrick Brandon | 7 April 1972 | 8 months | His father was killed in a car accident. |
| Diana Yukawa Japanese-British violinist and songwriter | 16 September 1985 | Akihisa Yukawa | 12 August 1985 | 1 month | Her father was killed in the Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash |
| Gia Coppola American film director and actress | 1 January 1987 | Gian-Carlo Coppola | 26 May 1986 | 7 months | Her father was killed in a boating accident |
| Tuki Brando Fashion model | 26 June 1990 | Dag Drollet | 16 May 1990 | 1 month | His father was shot and killed by his uncle Christian Brando |
| Iryana Leila Princess of Iran | 26 July 2011 | Ali-Reza Pahlavi | 4 January 2011 | 6 months | Her father committed suicide in Boston |
Fictional people
Parikshit, the sole survivor of Kuru dynasty in Mahabharata, was born after his father Abhimanyu was killed in the Kurukshetra war.
The Greek god Asclepius is said to have been delivered by caesarean section after his mother was killed on Mount Olympus.[2]
Macduff, a character in Shakespeare's Macbeth, revealed that he was not literally born, but removed from his [dead] mother, completing a plot twist.
The Irish Republican song "The Broad Black Brimmer" was about a boy whose father died before he was born.
The Charles Dickens character David Copperfield was a posthumous child, whose father had died six months before he was born.[17]
On A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, baby Jacob was born after his father Dan was killed by Freddy.
In The Hunger Games series, Gale Hawthorne's sister Posy is born shortly after their father dies in a mine explosion, and Finnick Odair's son is born months after his death in battle.
John Connor, a principal character in the Terminator franchise, and son of Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese (a time traveler from the future), was conceived shortly before his father was killed. As an adult, John was in fact responsible for selecting Reese (who was unaware of their relation) to go back in time.
The Noughts and Crosses series character Callie-Rose Hadley is born after the execution of her father, Callum McGregor.
In the British television soap opera Coronation Street, Liam Connor Jr was born in July 2009; his father, and namesake Liam Connor, was ordered murdered by Tony Gordon just a short time after Liam Jr's conception in October 2008.
Grey's Anatomy: Derek Shepherd died in a car accident in Season 11 9 months before the birth of his daughter.
See also
References
- ↑ THE ETHICAL AND LEGAL QUAGMIRES OF POSTMORTEM REPRODUCTION, by Christie Brough, 21st National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Dominican University of California, April 2007
- 1 2 3 Christine Quigley, The Corpse: A History, McFarland, 1996, ISBN 0-7864-0170-2, pages 180 to 181.
- 1 2 3 Renee H. Sekino, Posthumous Conception: The Birth of a New Class, Boston University Journal of Sci. and Tech. Law, 2001.
- ↑ "Frozen in Time: Planning for the Posthumously Conceived Child". The National Law Review. Fairfield and Woods P.C. 2009-07-09. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
- ↑ U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 7 – Consular Affairs, 7 FAM 1180 Posthumous Children, 4-07-2006
- ↑ Report 49 (1986) — Artificial Conception: Human Artificial Insemination, 12. AIH and Posthumous Use of Semen, Law Reform Commission, New South Wales
- 1 2 Posthumous fathers to be recognised, BBC News, 25 August 2000
- ↑ Bowman, William Dodgson. The Story of Surnames. London, George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1932. No ISBN.
- ↑ The Peerage. Retrieved 14 March 2014
- ↑ leighrayment, The Baronetage. Retrieved 14 March 2014
- ↑ Wikisource. Retrieved 14 March 2014
- ↑ New York Times, 21 April 1984. Retrieved 13 July 2015
- ↑ "Døde Mandkøn" [Deceased Males]. Kirkebog [Parish Register]. 1899–1911 (in Danish). Hjørring Sogn. 13 December 1906. p. 91.
- ↑ Corpo de Itamar Franco chega a Juiz de Fora (MG), onde será velado UOL (In Portuguese), 3 July 2011, accessed in 29 November 2016.
- 1 2 "Lt. Hon. Henry Kerr Auchmuty Cecil". thepeerage.com. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
- 1 2 Wilson, Julian (11 June 2013). "Sir Henry Cecil obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
- ↑ "Blundeston - David Copperfield". blundeston.org.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
External links
- Posthumous Child (i.e., Born After Father's Death), Adoption.com