Hi there, can anybody answer a question for me, if a couple have been found guilty of bigamy I suppose that they would need to remarry again would this be write ( I am revering to the year 1896).
If the marriage was found to be bigamous it wouldn't be legal. So yes, they'd have to go through another marriage ceremony once they were both legally free to marry.
I don't think anything happens to the original marriage entry, though there should be court records of the bigamy trial (I think it's a criminal offence).
Bigamy was rife, and although it was against the law and seen as naughty, it rarely attracted much punishment UNLESS:
It was a man making a bigamous marriage with an innocent virgin (thus ruining her) or was done for financial gain, or was a habit!
Those who entered into collusively bigamous marriages appear to have only got a bit of a slap. Some did go to prison of course, but that appears to be more to do with how spiteful the magistrate or judge was, rather than the extent of the crime.
Known bigamous marriages OUGHT to be suppressed by the GRO, but aren't always.
Many thanks for your answers, I did get the bigamy papers and court records they were both fined 3 pounds each(which must have been alot of money in those days) but I can't find any marriage certificate after this, they were my ggmother & ggfather.
Hi there, can anybody answer a question for me, if a couple have been found guilty of bigamy I suppose that they would need to remarry again would this be write ( I am revering to the year 1896).
thanks
marionbe
But they stlill wouldn't be able to marry unless whichever partner had committed bigamy had obtained a divorce or been widowed.
Many thanks for your answers, I did get the bigamy papers and court records they were both fined 3 pounds each(which must have been alot of money in those days) but I can't find any marriage certificate after this, they were my ggmother & ggfather.
Thanks
marionbe
Interesting they were both fined. Were neither of them free to marry?
My gran married a bigamist in 1915. Nothing happened to her "husband" in respect of this and it's possible the marriage was never questioned (they separated very soon afterwards). However, his brother was also a bigamist (late 1920's, from memory) and when he married illegally he used his father's name at the ceremony and his grandfather's details as his father's details! A few months later when his bigamy was discovered he was jailed for a year, which seemed fairly excessive compared to others. When he came out of prison he returned to the lady he had married bigamously.
Maybe they were both fined because they both knew very well they were committing bigamy.
I must say, it does amaze me why people were so prepared to commit bigamy. Surely they KNEW that the marriage wouldn't be legal - so what was the point? I'm talking about consensual bigamy here.
I can see they might commit bigamy if there families didn't know the marriage was illegal....."Why are you not married yet??".....or perhaps in cases of desertion where the statutory seven years wasn't up yet. It would also be tempting if your husband or wife (ie from the previous marriage) had already committed bigamy.......
Sometimes it can't be clear to us who knew what either.......
My gg grandad was a shipwright and went away to sea 15 days after he married Mary Rhoda. She moved in with her parents and waited for him to come home but he didnt. She gave birth to her 1st child.
Her family enquired after our Walter at the shipping company where he worked and was apparantly told "he must me dead".
Mary Rhoda married Samson the lodger pmsl but a few months later Walter contacted her from Scotland saying he was alive and ill. She dashed off to Scotland and nursed him back to health.
Before she went she explained all this to Samson and he being quite offended lol reported her to the police. She was charged and given a slapping but got off with it. The judge said she should have waited the 7 years and not remarried. She lived with our Walter till he died.
I do wonder how innocent she was though as 5 months after our Walter died she remarried to a neighbour 16 years her junior. Her age suddenly dropped by 15 yrs on the census and on her death cert!
It was her that was the bigamist but I think that he knew about her being married as they were both fined. After the court case they left to live in England and I can't find another marraige certificate for them, and also they adopted 3 children after this you would think that they would'nt be allowed to adopt as they would have had criminal records, what do you think?
So there would not have been paperwork or any questions asked about there backround?
Marionbe.
None at all before 1927. The authorities didn't have to be involved in any way. If someone decided to hand their child over to someone else it was a matter for the parent(s) and the adoptive parent(s) and no one else.
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