Divorce research

[carolmcb]

Is there any way to check if my g. grandmother divorced her husband before she re-married in 1911. She abandoned her kids on the orphanage steps in Bethnal Green sometime between 1896 (this was year of birth of youngest child) and 1901 when they are shown in the orphanage records.

Maureen

[Peter Goodey]

1. This research guide should answer your questions:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=53

Note that class J 77 in the National Archives online catalogue is searchable by name. This will provide a almost certain answer for the period you mentioned.

2. Whatever anyone else may tell you, the only definitive answer involves asking the Principal Registry of the Family Division.

3. Divorce was extremely unlikely for working class people until the 1920s.