Genealogy Chat

Hi everyone

My partner who is 82 now is interested in finding out the reason for why his parents (both dead now) divorced and his father left him and his sister when he was around 3-4 years old. Is there anywhere you can apply for these. It would be in Brighton Sussex around the time 1940-46 as his dad remarried in 1946 and his mum in 1951. Cannot find any website that might be able to help - any idea where I can go from here.

Thanks for reading this.

Very few divorce records have survived

Info from national archives

The survival rate of divorce case files is:

1858-1927: almost 100%
1928-1937: 80%
After 1937: less than 0.2%
No case files survive from the district registries set up in 1927.

Just an observation but if dad remarried soon after the wars maybe there was another lady involved

Thanks for that Shirley so I understand there is very little hope, Thanks for the info though. He just wanted closure as his mum refused to give him any information. Thanks again for your reply and help.

Were they together on the 1939 register
It may narrow the timeline

Or as they are now deceased they may show in different households

Don't think though you will find out why they divorced

Another suggestion for a reason for the divorce, although not wishing to cast suspicion on your partners mother.

Many husbands went away with the forces. On their return they discovered a young child in the household. It was impossible for them to be the child’s father even if it’s birth had been registered as such.

Does he have any surviving cousins who may have heard rumours?

Just a thought - as related to events discovered in my wider family.

Is he certain that there was a divorce?
Do the 2nd marriage certificates of his parents state "previous marriage dissolved" or some similar wording?

The marriage of the father - got the certificate said "Batchelor"- got the Will and contacted the Executrix of the will just to see really if my partner had any half brothers and sisters altough couldnt find any - there werent any - she was really surprised as said she thought he hadnt been married before but thinking about it there were not any members of his family at the wedding. My partner knows himself that his mum was "a bit of a girl" who shall we say frantinised with the yanks and Canadians in Brighton. There was a child born in Brighton in 1944 who died when only a baby. I couldnt find the mother and father on the 1939 census.

If anyone fancies a challenge and send me a private message I will give all the names of the children and the parents but my partner has now said "let sleeping dogs lye" but he is such a wonderful and understanding partner that I would love to find this for him but dont really think I will.

I think, but am not 100% certain, that in the 1940's the only criteria for divorce was either adultery or cruelty on behalf of one or other of the couple.

As Inky1 has already said, many couples just separated and then lived with another partner as though they were married, or went through a bigamous marriage. As the marriage certificate you have for the 2nd marriage says he is a bachelor then I would suspect that there was no divorce.

We found with my husband's parents when we couldn't find a marriage for them (although they appeared to be married) that his mother changed her name by deed poll in 1943 so that when she registered her son's birth it appeared as though she was married. His father had married in the 1920's but the marriage broke up when he was away with the army and divorce wasn't an option for them as it was very expensive.

Kath. x

OH's grandfather divorced his first wife in 1920 and when he married OH's grandmother a year later his status was "bachelor" not "divorced". I would doubt that he was asked if he was divorced more likely to be asked if he was a bachelor or widower. I suspect that that may still have been the wording until the 50s or even 60s.

I have a copy of the divorce papers (Scottish divorces papers as recent as the 70s have survived) and I am not convinced that the circumstances weren't a "setup" as the grandfather met someone else while serving in WW1. My sympathies are with the first wife and seven children of that marriage but can't say that to my in laws.

If you live in Brighton you could try the local library, as many divorces were reported in local Newspapers.

The OP indicates that there was a divorce. But who told her partner that? His mother? Or has it merely been assumed?

I agree that the term bachelor does not necessarily mean that he misstated his status on his 1946 marriage. It all depends on what was in his mind and how the question was phrased. But I asked about the status on both marriages.

So does the mother's 1951 marriage state her as spinster, divorcee or some other term? And what is stated as her surname - her maiden name, her first marriage name or another name?

Talking of Set Ups.

A distant relative lived in a ménage a trois with his wife & her lover. He agreed to divorce her as long as he didn’t have to support his or her children. The divorce was granted then overturned when someone blabbed.
Meanwhile she & the lover had travelled to Canada & married there!

Thank you everyone for your help. I dont have his mum's second wedding certificate but am ordering that today. I will also try the Brighton newspapers but think that would be a massive task as dont know the year of the "divorce" if indeed there was one. The baby born in 1944 was put in his mum's married name but we know that he left his wife and two children in 1940/41. He was a good man though and he sent maintenance for the two children until they were around 16-18 yrs old.

Thanks again everyone.

Try the Britishnewspapers online for Brighton using the married surname ,,,,,they were usually listed about every 3 months.

think it would likely be , going on the time frame a case of 5yrs apart with consent therefore no one at fault. and you may never find the real reason

Elizabeth, the 5 years apart reason only came into effect in 1969
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/19/divorce-law-history

If they were divorced, and we’re still not sure that happened, it was more likely to because of her adultery. After all, it’s pretty difficult to claim the child was his if he wasn’t around!

the 1937 act of desertion perhaps if he just up and left

I know of a situation where a wife and mother left her husband and daughter during WW2 taking the ration books with her.
Through finding a relative on GR it was discovered the women went to another area and told people all her family were killed in the Blitz.

She remarried under her maiden name and had another daughter. Both women grew up thinking they were only children.

Glad to say they have met up and keep in touch and very pleased they are sisters

Certificates don't always arrive as quickly as one would like.
Hopefully the OP will receive it soon, and post the details.