Divorce

[Lindad]

Where and how does one find out if a divorce took place?

I have a couple of people in my tree with second marriages; I can't find the deaths of the former spouses and wonder whether they may have been divorced. I'd like to rule out the possibility of bigamy!|blush|

[Pam Downes]

Hi Lindad,

You don't quote any dates, which will make a difference to what you can find and where, but the National Archives has quite bit of information even if they don't have actual records.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Then I entered 'divorce' in the search box in the top right-hand corner. The first result I clicked on came up ' page not found' but others that I clicked on were OK.

Pam Downes

[John]

Where and how does one find out if a divorce took place?

I have a couple of people in my tree with second marriages; I can't find the deaths of the former spouses and wonder whether they may have been divorced. I'd like to rule out the possibility of bigamy!|blush|
Up until the 20th cent. divorce was an expensive business requiring an act of parliament, however, annullment was, I been told, an easy way of getting out of a marriage. If at any time information came to light that would have disuaded either partner from entering into that marriage then it could be annulled. I've not gone into this in any great depth but it could explain all those widows with husbands living in the next street.

John

[Lindad]

Thanks everyone!