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well marriage cert came today for second marriage, and she certainly was divorced, so maybe Frank just decided not to marry again.

Hi flip, I have ordered the cert and deleted the earlier post, thanks for all the help!

Jane, this may be a wild goose chase with the Leeds birth - there may not have been a marriage to account for this but the if the lady had been married before it would have been recorded under her married name, but the birth under her maiden name. As Jude has confirmed, the only way you'd know would be to get the certificate.

You really must remove your e-mail address in your post 19:49, it is against this site's T&Cs and some bright spark may report your post and it be deleted. To contact anyone on this site you simply click on their name and you can send a private message.

Yep.......sorry

hi yeah I have found it, but it's Leeds, this is a curve ball, mum would have been 7 at the time,
is the only way to find out parents full names by ordering the certificate??

Jane - third girl born in Leeds - easy to find on basic info

Jude

Marriages.....Lilian Dobbs/Figg and Lilian Figg/ Spencer

I can only see one Dobbs/Winter marriage 1930-51, but there are 3 Dobbs/Winter births in 1944, 48 & 51. So if he disappeared around 48 who is the father of the 51 baby? Are these births your mothers sisters?

ADDED: I'm not posting the births as you can see them on freebmd and they are probably still living.

Hi Jane, when & where were her 2 subsequent marriages? - sometimes we can find them recorded with alternative surnames being used (depending on the records available online for the areas in question).

Hi Flip.....yes they moved around a bit didn't they, we actually moved to Kidderminster in 2002 which I find extremely strange as I didn't know anything about franks family then....obviously drawn there for some reason!!! passed where they used to live all those years ago hundreds of times without knowing about it!!

Ooh Kathleen, that's interesting, , the third marriage she was a widow as husband number 2 died the year after the marriage!

I will order the certificate through!! :)

thanks everyone, I am in contact with Wakefield Libraries, they are going to try and help me! fingers crossed :)

Although your nan's two subsequent marriages are in the GRO index, do you actually have the marriage certificates? It would be interesting to know how she describes herself on her second marriage - widow, divorced or single.

If she really was divorced she would have had to produce her divorce papers before the marriage. If she says she is a widow or single neither would be true.

Kath. x

His parents certainly move around a bit - 1911 in Sheffield, 2 children born Rochdale and 1 in Barnsley. In 1901 they were in Kidderminster where 2 other children were born (Dorothy age 1 and William 1 month).

Might make it a bit difficult to fimd marriages for his siblings - they could have moved again after 1911.

My instinct would be to first get the electoral rolls checked out for the address given on his death certificate - see who was living there a couple of years either side of the death. Maybe they had adult children - I think you had to be 18 to vote by then?

The other alternative would be to extend your search to his siblings - see if you can track down living neices/nephews who may have known of him and his subsequent life. He may have left your nan but may have remained in contact with his family.

Thanks Kath,
I did think that was a possibility, I can't find anything at all, Nellie is stated as his widow on the death cert, I know my nan got remarried after frank because I have some photos and it is on the register and my mom was there at the wedding, so they must have been divorced,
I would really like to find if they had any children, my mom was only 3-4 yes when he left, she has longed for all these years to find out about him
I will keep searching!! Frustrated!!

I can't find a marriage anywhere for a Frank Dobbs to a Nellie or an Ellen.

I think it is much more likely that they didn't marry and she just took on his name.

My own in-laws were never actually married because my father-in-law was married to someone in the 1920's and when the marriage broke up they just went on to live as "man and wife" with other partners as divorce was so expensive and difficult to get.. My husband had no idea his parents were not married but after years of searching for their marriage an elderly relative told us she knew they had never actually married. Father-in-law died in the early 1960's and his first wife married her long time partner in 1969 - when she had obviously found out that he had died (probably when she applied for a pension).

My husband and his brother's birth certificates are written in a way that makes it seem his parents are married and father-in-law's death certificate names my mother-in-law as his widow - even though technically she wasn't.

Kath. x

thanks everyone xx

Sometimes you can get lucky and find out without a visit.

You might try an e mail to the main library asking if they hold old electoral lists for that year.
With a given name, date and address some people will confirm details and tell you who else was registered there.

Not sure on privacy rules, because when a librarian ( in Surrey) helped me this way, it was for 1950s.

Worth a try though........

Gwyn

I can't help thinking they didn't divorce and, if she remarried twice, it was bigamous. And maybe he didn't.....

But even if they did - and you had the divorce papers would it hep you????

I'd say get a copy of his wife's death certificate....at the very least it will tell you who declared the death..

JUde