Divorce

[lanshaw]

Unsure of where to post this, so here goes.

Apart from sending for marriage certificates to solve my problem, are there any sites which list divorces? 

I am coming across marriages where a divorce from the previous marriage is the only explanation that I can come up with when trying to fit in a marriage involving the same names. 

Lanshaw

[JudyAnne]

Hi

According to information on the 1837online site, all divorce records are held at the
Principal Registry of the Family Division (PRFD) and are not accessible to the public. One of their officials will do a search for you and supply a copy for a fee - NB it does not give any indication of how much this will be!  Their full address can be found by visiting the 1837 online site and looking up divorce on the resources and guidance tab. You don't need to subscribe to look it up.

I visited the www.nationalarchivist.com site last week to see what information was available and noticed they they were offering divorce records. I think it said you could search the index free and their recovery service would send a copy of the decree for about £20 but it only covered records from 1858-1903.

Hope this helps

Jud

[Valda]

This is The National Archives research guide on researching divorce records - what is available and whether it has survived.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=53&j=1

If there was a divorce the second marriage would state that. If you are not sure you might be chasing a divorce that doesn't exist. Before the end of the First World War there was no free legal aid for divorce, so it was financially beyond the reach of most people. When marriages broke down ordinary people had to be pragmatic about their options. Some lived with another person as man and wife but never married and some married bigamously. This was a practise that quietly went on and as long as it didn't hurt anyone else a fuss wasn't made about it. However it was far from the norm, so in most cases before the First World War a second marriage really does mean the first partner has died.
Before 1858 divorces were virtually unobtainable apart from for a few very rich individuals as an Act of Parliament was required for each divorce.

Regards

Valda

[lanshaw]

Hi Jud and Valda

Thanks for the information on divorces.  I will check out both sites when I have more time (got to go to work now).  It would be nice if finding divorce records was as easy as finding BMD indexes.

Again thanks for the help
Lanshaw