Bigamy - TOBIN, Hartlepool

[bergman93]

Hi all, new girl here. I'm trying to trace the marriage of my Mum and Father. He was a bit naughty in that when he married my mum he already had a wife in Suez, Egypt! of all places. Anyway, I know he was a bigamist, but whether he committed bigamy by marrying my Mum or some other poor soul isn't clear. I was always told that the authorities knocked on the door for him, he was arrested and taken to court. I don't know whether this 'crime' would be punishable by a prison sentence or a fine or what. I can't find any marriage certificate which proves this nor any other information. I'm not sure when this offence took place, probably in the early 1950's, before say 1954. I was always led to believe he was arrested at some stage during my mum's pregnancy, but I don't know how true this is albeit it seems credible. I'd like some help on
1. Finding a record of the 2nd marriage.
2. Finding proof of the offence.
3. Anything which connects this man to me.
There are still members of the family around who knew him, knew where he lived and with who. But they aren't old enough to have been party to the information I'm looking for. As I understand it all marriages are recorded, but certificates are not necessarily available, some bigamous marriages slip through the net, don't think this one has. Also criminal records are closed for 75 years, I'll be too old to care by then!!! Any information tit bit is welcome. It's more than I have right now.
Heres hopeful Bergman93

[notanotherminer]

Hi bergman93 and welcome to Brit-Gen

You haven't stated whether your mother and father are still living. Our Forum rules strictly forbid the details of living persons from being posted (please read our Terms of Service)but if you are sure this is not the case if you give us names, years of birth etc. I'm sure our members will do their best to help with your query.

[Raffaele]

This is a link to FreeBMD which as it infers is free
BMD stands for births, marriages and deaths and all of these since 1837 have been registered

While FreeBMD is not complete I just checked a known 1946 entry and that was there

http://www.
freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

[bergman93]

Thank you for responding. I'm sorry I didn't say, but both my parents have died. I subscribe to both Ancestry and Find My Past, but I'm unable to find the marriage to my Mother.
Father - Philip Tobin b1914 Hartlepool
Served in the Merchant Navy, hence the marriage in Egypt I suppose (I have the certificate for this!)
Mother Mary Elizabeth Watson, nee Randall b1910 Penrhiwceiber, Glamorgan
Both were living in Luton, Bedfordshire at the time of the marriage.
I have found another marriage for Philip Tobin, but this was in 1963 in Luton to someone else, I'm presuming he was either a widower or had divorced the woman he married in Egypt by this time! But you never can tell!!!
Bergman93

[bergman93]

Thank you Raffaele for the information, but I can't even find my own marriage (I just checked!) and I have looked again for the bigamous marriage, no luck. I've been looking for this for around 10 years now, spending weeks looking and searching and then leaving it for a year or so and going back, maybe I'm asking the wrong question, or possibly the right question in the wrong way. I've done that before, but like I said I have read that bigamous marriages aren't available for public scrutiny. This is why I thought I'd try the criminal offence route.

[notanotherminer]

I've done that before, but like I said I have read that bigamous marriages aren't available for public scrutiny. This is why I thought I'd try the criminal offence route.

According to discussion on another Forum the record of a bigamous marriage is not actually removed but it can be suppressed if the GRO are informed of the bigamy. I cannot comment on this personally but we do fortunately have a couple of experts on marriage law on this Forum who will hopefully see your thread and be able to comment.

With regard to criminal charges being brought I think your best route would be to see if the case attracted newspaper interest at the time. Were your mother and father still in Bedfordshire when the bigamy came to light? If so maybe one of our members would know the best sources for newspaper archives in the county. If the answer was "yes" then maybe your thread would be more suited in our Bedfordshire forum. If you would like it moved please let us know and we can easily shift it for you.

[Megan Roberts]

I checked the marriages at findmypast which are fully searchable. There is no marriage of a Philip Tobin to a Watson.

[Raffaele]

FreeBMD has this flawed record

Marriages Dec 1946
Brown Mary E Harrower Luton 4a 380
Harrower Lindsay P Brown Luton 4a 380
Harrower Lindsay P Watson Luton 4a 380
Hilditch Sidney Payne Luton 4a 380
Payne Joyce B Hilditch Luton 4a 380
Watson Mary E Harrower Luton 4a 380

According to this Lindsay P Harrower married Mary E Brown and Mary E Watson
Something is very clearly wrong and provokes the thought that the name was mistranscribed.
If so, then should it have been Philip Tobin.

I did check the originals which are GRO indexes and they do show exactly what is above.
It could be worth ordering a certificate specifying the parties or a visit to Luton Register office

[Peter Goodey]

I can see a marriage in Suez, Egypt in 1941-45 of a Philip Tobin.

Is this the marriage you're referring to? If so, do you have the certificate?

Also I would have thought the 1963 certificate was something you ought to have.

[notanotherminer]

Something is very clearly wrong and provokes the thought that the name was mistranscribed.

I think in the above case Lindsay P Harrower was a male. Lindsay can also be a man's name so presumably this Mary Watson was previously known as Brown or vice versa. The GRO index shows that Lindsay Harrower married Watson or Brown and there are 2 entries in the index for Mary - one for each surname so I think the entry is correct.