Genealogy Chat

thanks for that Nell , Merry has found a divorce which seems likely , I shall also look into this site thanks a lot

From National Archives website: Divorce 1858-1937: The National Archives Research guides Divorce records for this period are likely to be at The National Archives. Our research guide describes these records in more detail. It may be worthwhile coming to check. Divorce Records after 1858 The Catalogue Records are kept in series J 77. To find whether there is a divorce record at The National Archives which may be of interest, search the Catalogue entering the surname as a keyword and J 77 as the series reference. nell

thanks very much for all replies sorry I couldnt get back on earlier.

Hi, I found an ancestor whose wife caught him having an affair with the maid, and there was a judicial separation. I found that on the National Archivist site, and also found some juicy details on the Times online site, which told how the maid and ancestor were in the habit of him going to her abode on a saturday night and staying until sunday. The maid and him were there under an assumed name, while the wife was at home. They only got married when the wife died. On each census she says she is a widow as does he. For about twenty pounds you can get a copy of the divorce/separation from the National Archivist site. Hope this helps, Louise

Mine just seem to have shacked up. I have two instances when after a couple of decades they have suddenly married. I can only assume that they learnt that the ex partner had died and so made their own union legal. The woman in question who was one of mine listed herself on the 1891 in London as 'widow' - when her husband was with a 'housekeeper' in Suffolk and a baby son!

In Victorian times most divorces were reported in The Times newspaper. I have seen some entries for ''ordinary'' people, though most were still for the upper classes..... If you want to post their names and the dates/years the divorce would have occurred between (UPDATE - Oh , you said that at the top! LOL), then I can look for you if you like......... Who were they?? Merry

PRO at Kew holds divorce records ... seem to recall searching these online - it was a complicated process (well, to me anyway!). Jane

I have a situation in the 1880s/1890s which may have been either divorce or bigamy. Where could I look?

just had another thought where could I find out if they divorced would I be able to look at records thanks

thanks for all your replies . Wow really Merry thats interesting I wonder what he did out of that lot, I now have an idea of what happened thanks a lot

The requirement for an act of parliament to procure a divorce ended in 1857 with the passing of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857: ''The Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, enabled the Court of Divorce and Matrimonial Causes to grant a divorce where the petitioner could prove not only that the respondent had committed adultery, but also incest, cruelty, bigamy, sodomy or desertion. This extra requirement was abolished in 1923, but adultery (treated as a 'matrimonial offence') remained the only ground of divorce.'' Merry

Only if she was very rich and powerful. Much more likely she lived with someone as his wife, or was married biggamously. Jay

it was possible but I believe you had to get it raised in parliament to get permission to do so and therefore had to know an MP to ask to do it for you Someone will come in and correct me any minute now I'm sure but it generally wasn't available to the common population until a fair bit later

somebody in our family is supposed to have left her hubby and married someone else, now I know she could have maybe lied and not said she was already married , but is it possible she divorced him, this would have been between 1861 and 1871