(Alice) Muriel Mullenger, born 7th July 1913

[rosie99]

As you say the 1939 register lists all of her marriages does it also give dates when these changes were made.

[chempat]

Did you find any further information on CFJ Smith (for completeness, if not for help with the Howarth marriage)?

[Nadine44]

Thank you all for reading my post.

Chempat: I have not found anything on CFJ Smith - certainly no record of death, of course there's a chance he's still alive (born around 1922).

Rosie99: Unfortunately it is only Muriel's marriage to AC Cruttenden as shown on the 1939 register that gives a date.  All others are hidden beneath redacted lines above and below Muriel's entry.  The very kind people at FindMyPast managed to (I assume) take a peek below these redactions to tell me that there was another name 'Smith' against Muriel, which I how I found out she'd been married a fourth time!!  No date was given.

I have been looking for marriages between Cruttenden and Howarth, as I have assumed, maybe wrongly, that Muriel was 'Mrs Cruttenden' when she married Mr Howarth, but of course there may be a fifth husband (who would have been husband number 3), in which case her name at marriage to Mr Howarth would not have been Cruttenden. 

My search goes on .....

[rosie99]

The 1939 register could have been altered to Smith as she was using later known by that name.  In the UK you can call yourself what you like without legally changing your name and if her NHS records were changed to the name she was using then the register would have been updated

[Nadine44]

Hi Rosie
With the exception of her birth name (Mullenger) all Muriel's surnames appear on the 1939 Register.  She was Muriel BURRELL at the time of the 1939, then CRUTTENDEN in 1946. HOWARTH appeared later (no date though), and finally SMITH in 1975.  Muriel's surname was Smith at the time of her death in 1980.

I always assumed that in order for additions to be made to the 1939 Register, any change of surname would have had to be official, i.e. through marriage so if Muriel had changed her surname to Howarth on a whim, I doubted whether this would have been entered on the Register, though I may be wrong. 

Change of name via Deed Poll was something I had considered so some time ago I checked the London Gazette.  Unfortunately I did not find Muriel, but interestingly did find a Deed Poll for a lady (Susan M M Mullenger) who was born in 1912 and who we had considered (pre-internet) could have been Muriel but after sending for birth certificate proved not to be.

Nadine