Bigamy in World War 1

[keithfazzani]

On Radio 4 today on Tracing Your Roots historian June Balshaw claimed that she had noted a substantial increase in prosecutions for bigamy from 1914 and during WW1. She suggested various reasons including claiming married allowance from the army. Another historian (whose name I didn't catch as I was in the car) suggested that there was no increase in bigamy during the war simply an increase in prosecutions. Has anyone any ideas/suggestions around what seems an interesting topic.

[John_Hartley]

Keith

Surely one cannot know how many bigamists might have been around. There is no direct correlation between offending and prosecution.

John

[maryh]

Hi Keith,

I can say from a family history researchers experience that bigamy was actually rather common in the early 20th C. Divorce was all but impossible for 'ordinary' folk and couples simply split up and in the fullness of time they married someone else, especially as register office weddings became more common (later 19th C onwards). More often, I have found, couples lived together as man and wife but never actually married. I have seen several examples of the latter.

You really would think that there were more important things to worry about in 1914-18 - than prosecuting bigamists eh? But I too wonder whymore prosecutions? Whatever we may get up to today, you can be sure that the ancestors have been there, done it and bought the T-shirt

Mary

[Max]

With a great deal of help from forum pal Mr Nulty I have found that one set of my GGGrandparents were both involved in bigamous marriages....the real icing on the cake is that they went on to marry a brother and sister combo who they appear to have known for years and who were considerably younger than them.

My GGrandfather (see signature) was the 6th of 8 illegitimate children to Mary Ann Riding and Charles Daughtery. Charles and Mary Ann lived together for years even though he was actually married to someone else. By 1884 they had supposedly married but I can find no record of the death of Charles wife or the marriage of Mary Ann and Charles.

Andy

[ChrisBryett]

Hi Keith,

An interesting point is that there has never been a law against common law wives just those married by statute. If you added in the common law wifes the number might be huge.

Chris.

[Jon6640]

A fascinating story from the village of Cheslyn Hay in Staffordshire on a related theme.

Prior to the Great War a local married man (I'm mentioning no names out of respect for the family) who had a child decided to up sticks and find his fortune in South Africa, sadly without sharing this fact with his family. After the relevant period of time with nothing heard from this man who to everyone else's knowledge had disappeared he was declared dead. His wife remarried a Cheslyn Hay man who looked after his step-child and had a child of his own with his new wife. The war came and he went off, sadly being killed in 1916.

Meanwhile South Africa was not the bountiful land that our first man thought he would find and so he joined the South Africa army, serving in Europe. At the conclusion of armistice he was granted his discharge and allowed to remain in the UK, upon which he found his wife (and no doubt had much explaining to do) and they lived together until their deaths.

[J Banning]

There is an interesting few pages on bigamy in WW1 in Richard van Emden's 'All Quiet on the Home Front' (ISBN 0-7553-1189-2). (link here) This was published in 2003 and contains information on the rise in prosecution for this crime in wartime and some examples.

A very good book with lots of social/home front information often ignored in Great War studies.

JB