Divorce

[rosie99]

What marital status was given when he married in 1948.  Where have you checked that there was no divorce from his first wife

[BumbleB]

According to The National Archives, less that 0.2% of divorce case files after 1937 have survived.

1858 - 1927 - almost 100% have survived
1928 - 1937 - almost 80% have survived

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/divorce/

[Blue70]

I have one of these in my tree it was confirmed by the results of a search request. I had to apply for a search of the divorce records over a ten year period. Always best to check the divorce records as people can give false information. The marriage certificate in the second marriage in our case stated that the bride was divorced but the divorce records showed that no divorce had taken place.


Blue

[avotier]

He was my fathers brother he married in his stepfathers surname 1st marriage  and his real name for the 2nd and 3rd marriages he was down as bachelor and 3rd marriage as divorced.

[zetlander]

you're assuming the first wife was single when she married.  If she wasn't single then the first marriage was not valid.

[Blue70]

A useful link for requesting a divorce search and obtaining a copy of a decree absolute or final order if a divorce is found:-

https://www.gov.uk/copy-decree-absolute-final-order


Blue

[majm]

If someone has been married 3 times but never divorced his 1st wife are the other 2. Marriages legal.

He was my fathers brother he married in his stepfathers surname 1st marriage  and his real name for the 2nd and 3rd marriages he was down as bachelor and 3rd marriage as divorced.

Thank you for answering 1st marriage 1939 no divorce 2nd marriage 1948 divorce 3rd marriage 1958

Hi there,

I am sure you would have checked and that you are certain your Uncle was married three times.  So may I ask some questions for you to ponder over in perhaps a reflective way.

  Do you have the marriage certificates for each of those three?

You mention the first marriage was using his step-father’s surname. 

  Are you sure that that’s actually your Uncle, and not someone else by that name?  Have you considered checking further, eg with freebmd indexes or similar…  If it is definitely your uncle, then perhaps as others have mentioned you need to consider if the bride was free to marry … 

You mention the second marriage was using his real name and he was noted there as a bachelor.  If the first marriage was not valid, or if the first marriage was not your uncle, then this second marriage was actually his first, so he would have been a bachelor at that time.

  Have you considered contacting the witnesses to gently ask them for any background knowledge of his marital status?

Also, I am sure that using a step surname does NOT invalidate a marriage; and that a person can be known by any name they choose at that time, provided they are not attempting to deceive or be a fraud etc… So whether they use a step name, or a birth surname, or any other name should not affect the validity of a marriage.  A name change does not need to be formalised, but a deed poll does change a name immediately rather than by the less formal way of 'by usage'. 

Likely there were children of all three marriages, and likely many of them are still living.   They may well be aware of the circumstances of their respective set of parents, and there may well be sensitive issues. 

  These people are your first cousins, so have you considered speaking with any them?   


JM

[avotier]

Have got the certificates and even went to the 2nd and 3rd weddings
Also got paperwork re divorces.
One divorce found  2nd marriage none for 1st .
3rd died while married.

[dawnsh]

From work experience, many people got as far as getting a decree nisi but never went back to court six weeks later to make the decree absolute.

Records of decrees nisi are not kept.