Records of Divorce in early 20th century Britain

[clive_hughes]

Hello,

A bit of a curiosity prompted by my struggling through the rather messy "Burnt records" WO 363 file of one of my casualties.  It has much water damage, torn scraps that have glued themselves to other bits, and so on - but quite enough left legible to make it interesting.

The soldier in question transferred from the old Militia to the Regulars in 1900, served in S.Africa and India,  extending to his full 12 years colour service and then in 1912 opting for 4 years "D" reserve on top of that.  He was dead before that final period was finished.  

Anyway, in 1903 he got married while a Private in the UK.  In two places some pages apart in his records it details the date, lady's name, register office (and registrar); and there follows a list of his four children born between 1904 and 1911 with exact birthdates.  He must have been approx. 22-23 years old when marrying.  No sign of any document giving permission to marry (not that I've ever seen one), or an entry on the married roll.

And that's all.  By 1912 there are  a couple of specific references to him as a Single man on transfer to reserve etc.  The wife and family are never mentioned again, including in any commemorative or pensions cards sense after his death - those just refer to his parents and siblings.  

Obviously some of the paperwork was destroyed, but unless the wife and family somehow all died (they remained in the UK) all I could think of was that there had been a divorce in about 1911-12.  So how would a divorce be recorded in any public sense back then?  

Thanks,

Clive

[aconnolly]

Clive - were divorces published as Court "job lots" in British newspapers?  It is common to find such lists in NZ and Aus newspapers.  Might be an angle?

Andrew

[alf mcm]

Clive,

 Since you know the wife's name and those of her children you can try and find them in the 1939 Register. You can search by exact date of birth. This will prove if they survived and if their surname changed, if the mother re-married. It wasn't uncommon for couples to just agree to seperate and in many cases women would record themselves as widows, especially if they had children. You may also find them in the 1911 or 1921 census.

 If you search TNA using 'Divorce [Surname]' you will get a lnumber of results. This example shows that some at least are available on Ancestry in their 'England & Wales, Civil Divorce Records, 1858-1918' ;- https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8006170

Regards,

Alf McM

Edited 17 July , 2022 by alf mcm

[corisande]

6 hours ago, ALAN MCMAHON said:

  A name would help..........

I don't think we can help you without a name

[ilkley remembers]

Civil divorce records from 1858 to 1918 for England and Wales are on Ancestry. They have been subject to a certain amount of weeding but some files are recorded in their entirety.

Edited 17 July , 2022 by ilkley remembers

[rolt968]

I'm not sure which documents at the end of his military career show him as single, but if he never registered himself as married wouldn't the army documents continue to show him as single.

I have an idea that the actual divorce documents at TNA are a "preserved sample".

RM

[MaureenE]

The National Archives Guide to Divorce https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/divorce/ states

"In 1858 divorce law was introduced in England but divorce remained too expensive for most people until the 1920s"

Maureen

[Kath]

Newspapers?

With a name.

[clive_hughes]

Hi folks,

Thank you for all that input.  I think I'd better be more specific and say that he was 6487 Pte. William JONES, Royal Welsh Fusiliers.  By all means please have a look at his file online if you wish.  You'll find one or two other William Joneses around: he was from Bodedern, Anglesey and killed in action at Festubert, May 1915.  

I picked up from somewhere that about the turn of the century, soldiers were allowed to marry if they had 6 years service and were over 26 years of age?? He was neither.  I just couldn't see in the wreckage of his file any reason why after 1903 he has a well-documented (checked on FreeBMD as well) marriage to Catherine Sarah Williams, and four subsequent children up to 1911; and by 1912 he is "single" and there's no mention of the little ones either, even in WW1 pension dependants records. 

Divorce seemed one possibility, though I suspect there may be others.  Should have done it before, but I'm going to see if I can pick his family up on the UK 1911 Census, the last child was born five months after that event. 

Clive 

[Chasemuseum]

This is a period when divorce was messy. Unless both parties agreed, it was very costly and difficult. Certainly this is an Australian rather than a UK example,but my mother spoke of one her aunts getting a divorce in the 1920s. While it was going to court she had to live with my grandparents for a year and not go out except in the company of both my grandparents as chaperones until the decree absolute was granted. During this period her husband visited her several times to attempt to persuade her to return and there had to be at least two witnesses present for the whole of the visits. 

 

Hence relocating to a new district or town, and just ignoring the first marriage was not uncommon if the separation was not mutually agreeable. 

[rolt968]

I have just been reminded of one way of getting round the lack of a divorce which was certainly used post WW2.

I have spent a long time searching for the death of the son of a man I am researching. The son is mentioned in the pension records.

He changed his surname legally in the 1970s to match the surname of the lady with whom he had been living for thirty odd years. (I assume that she was still legally married to someone else.)

RM

Edited 30 July , 2022 by rolt968

[alf mcm]

  In my family, my great grandmother emigrated to Canada, first in 1925 and again in 1926. She married there and claimed to be a widow. She and her new husband then returned to Aberdeen. Her first husband was alive and well, and had re-married in Aberdeen in 1924. He had claimed to be divorced. It is likely these 2 couples paths crossed at some point, since they were both living in Aberdeen.

Regards,

Alf McM