I did find a divorce for my G.Grandmother, for 1934, held at the National Archive but could only obtain it from Kew itself, so may be worth checking on Discovery, but the majority of my ancestors who split up either committed bigamy or didn't marry their next partner.
G.Grandmother obtained a 10sh divorce many of the other non divorced ancestors appear to have been white collar workers.
Bubblebelle x
FAMILY INTERESTS: Pitts of Sherborne Gloucs. Deaney (Bucks). Pye of Kent. Randolph of Lydd, Kent. Youell of Norfolk and Suffolk. Howe of Lampton. Carden of Bucks.
That'll teach me: She was able to divorce as a poor person. She had to show that all that she owned including clothing and any work related tools were not worth more than £50 and her earnings were less than £2 a week. When I posted I had not checked the actual document and had 10shillings in my head. However the actual cost of this type of divorce was kept to the bare minimum and with solicitors and any witnesses out of pocket expenses were paid the actual legal costs were free. This meant that this type of divorce was likely to cost less than £10.
Between 1858 and 1927 the records are almost 100% complete and between 1928 and 1937 about 80% complete. A representative sample of ‘full files’, in which all the case papers have been preserved as illustrating different kinds of proceedings of particular interest, has been retained but there are only 115 of these between 1858 and 1934. They are listed by name and number at the front of the Class List (J77) at The National Archives. All the case files are open to public search (as they come under the 30-year rule introduced in 1994).
Since 1937 only a representative sample of case files (less than 0.2%) has been kept. No files survive from the district registries set up in 1927 (only that of Wallis Simpson in 1936 has been preserved) and all the more recent divorce records, apart from the centrally filed decrees, are now destroyed after twenty years. The sad and widespread destruction of modern divorce records stems directly from the Report of the Committee on Legal Records (HMSO, 1966) chaired by Lord Denning. from Familysearch Divorce in England and Wales
The official archive of the UK government. Our vision is to lead and transform information management, guarantee the survival of today's information for tomorrow and bring history to life for everyone.
Bubblebelle x
FAMILY INTERESTS: Pitts of Sherborne Gloucs. Deaney (Bucks). Pye of Kent. Randolph of Lydd, Kent. Youell of Norfolk and Suffolk. Howe of Lampton. Carden of Bucks.
I found one ancestor who obtained a divorce in the early 1900s and was very surprised to learn that the chapel paid for it, presumably so that he could marry his common law wife with whom he already had several children.
what does it say on the marriage certificate for his marital status?
My grandmother, on the beach, South Bay, Scarborough, undated photo (poss. 1929 or 1930)
Researching Cadd, Schofield, Cottrell in Lancashire, Buckinghamshire; Taylor, Park in Westmorland; Hayhurst in Yorkshire, Westmorland, Lancashire; Hughes, Roberts in Wales.
It said that he was single. At the time I did the friends tree a couple of years ago, I had a message from a young lady who was the granddaughter of the maybe bigamist, who told me that her grandmother had never been divorced from him!...
I have a copy of my grandparents marriage certificate and as they got divorced it has a stamp across it, think it says annulled, not looked at it recently, but thats from new zealand so I am guessing this doesnt happen with british ones.
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