Marriage certificate question

[Tickettyboo]

I've tried searching RC but not found an answer, apologies if that's down to me using the wrong search terms.

I've come across a marriage where the party who knowingly committed bigamy (using a false name) was prosecuted a couple of years later for the offence (under  their legal name).

As such would the marriage cert, should I apply for a copy,  have been annotated in any way to say it was not valid?

If the time frame is relevant, the marriage was in 1939, prosecution in 1942.

Thanks

Boo

[Kloumann]

In Scotland, if a marriage is bigamist, Scotland's People will not issue a certificate copy. The record entry will have a stamp beside it indicating bigamist.

[Tickettyboo]

Thanks Kloumann, I suspect that the same would apply in England. Though FreeBMD have it in the index, that would have been compiled before the bigamy was discovered by the authorities, so not much point waiting for the GRO to come back and say they can't issue a cert.

I know the name of the church so will see if I can get a copy of the Parish Register - if that entry still exists.

Boo

[Deirdre784]

I have a bigamous marriage but have found no evidence that any charge followed, and the couple married again a few years later.

He claimed to be a bachelor in 1947 (we knew he wasn’t), and then admitted he was divorced when they married again in 1952. Both register offices, first in Pontypridd (south Wales), second in Wells, Somerset.

[Tickettyboo]

thanks for the reply Deirdre784, I too have a good few where its now obvious the marriage was bigamous, but no-one seemed to find out.
This one I do have proof that a successful prosecution took place so just wondered about what happens where the authorities are aware.

Boo

[AllanUK]

Hi Boo,

Found this on another forum:-

No entry, once made, is ever deleted from the registers.

When a marriage is bigamous (and proved so by the court) then the entry is suppressed by the GRO, who will not send out a certificate.

However, sometimes these bigamous marriages still appear in old copies of the INDEX, which leads to confusion, because if you order that marriage, the GRO will say they cannot supply a certificate, but they will not say why.

[Tickettyboo]

Thanks Allan

I suspected that may be the case, its logical that any official govt organisation is unlikely to issue a certificate for a marriage that was subsequently proved to not be valid - but I tend to clutch at any passing straw - just in case :-)

I will see what my enquiry regarding the Parish Register comes up with.

Boo

[AntonyMMM]

I only know of one marriage record being made unavailable by GRO, and that relates to a same sex marriage from the 1960s ( I have a copy though).

In most cases certificates for marriages which later proved to be bigamous will be supplied without question. I have bought many of them when investigating such cases.

The question of whether certificates should still be supplied when they reflect an invalid marriage was addressed by the Registrar General in the 1930s, when someone tried to have a bigamous marriage removed from the records. The RG refused and confirmed that the record would stay, and certificates could be supplied. The wording of his reply was:

A marriage register entry is not a guarantee that a valid marriage subsists between the parties specified …. it is a record of the fact that a marriage was celebrated between certain persons after fulfilment of all the requirements of the law.
(Registrar General Correspondence (RG 48/278)  1932)

[Tickettyboo]

Interesting, AntonyMMM, thank you.
That doesn't look like there would be any sort of later note added to the record.

As the PR copy will be cheaper than the cert, I'll wait till I get that as I am mainly interested in the date and what the guilty party said about their age, occupation and father's details.

Boo