Genealogy Chat

I'm sorry i know that similar threads have been on before but does anyone know owt about divorce in the 1920s and 30s was? I know a lot earlier it wasnt common due to it being very costly, but had it got cheaper and more common by the 20s and 30s? And could it be under the same grounds as today? We all knew my great grandad had been divorced once, but his marriage certificate to his (what we thought) first wife arrived today and it shows him as already being divorced! Must of been a charmer eh? Rebecca

Theres lots of details on the national archives site. Just type in divorce on their search box. I also had one of those grandfathers Sheila

Divorce was still quite rare in the 20's and 30's as it was still quite expensive. However if a marriage certificate states that he was divorced then he must have been. Are you sure he was actually divorced the second time? Maybe he just said he was divorced the second time. Kath. x

He definately divorced the second time as we're all aware of it and he married his 3rd wife, although I dont know if he would be able to have anulled or something as she disappeared after about 18 months of marriage leaving Gt Grandad with my 6month old Nana. bless

Do you have the marriage certificate for the 3rd marriage? You would need to see how he described his marital status, as not everyone got divorced before marrying again (there was a lot of bigamy about in those days because divorce was difficult). Kath. x

Hi Kath, I dont no, but i might ask Nana if her or my great uncle Michael have a copy - hes more likely out of the two as it was his mother in the 3rd marriage, but if not then i will be ordering it after pay day. All 3 marriages were in the same place though and its only really quite a small town now so would have been even smaller then!

Yes, I think he might have to, as it was still very rare, and having told the Registrar he was divorced, I would think the Registrar would then want proof. But I don't know that for a fact! Before the 1960s, there were very few grounds for divorce, and they differed for men and for women. Men only needed one reason to divorce a wife, women needed two! Adultery, desertion, insanity and venereal disease were the main grounds. There could be no collusion between the parties wanting a divorce, so you couldnt just agree to go your separate ways and divorce - you had to have specific grounds. Of course, this led to a lot of men spending a night in a hotel with a prostitute and being spotted by a private detective. All a big fix, of course. OC

as it says on his 2nd marriage certificate he is divorced, would he have to provide proof of that?

Aaaah thanks OC thats really interesting - he could probably have gone for desertion with his second wife then and i cant find any children that would fit for them in the time frame leading up to them getting married and him then marrying my Nanas mum. Would I need to search the national archives for info re the divorces then?

I had a nosey on national archives and from what I read I understood that theres a strong likelyhood that there will be no records at all about my great grandads divorces :o(