Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 27

Thread: bigamist

  1. #1
    rburland
    Guest

    Default bigamist

    My real Grandfather was a bigamist when he married Grandma in 1939 in Birmingham. His given name was Clifton Peter Scott-Riddle (not real) and his address was 43 Tenison Street, Lambeth. Would he have been charged in Birmingham or in London and what name would he have been charged under. Obviously I don't know his real name. Grandma is no longer with us and my father who was born later in 1939 is also no longer alive. He never knew who his real father was. please if anyone can offer any advice, I would be really grateful.
    Thanks

  2. #2
    Super Moderator Sue Mackay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Rhoose Point, South Wales
    Posts
    6,540

    Default

    I have looked at the Times Digital Archive for 1939 and there were 17 articles about bigamists!! You might like to look through and see if you recognise your grandmother's name. As you live in Somerset, you can probably get free access to the Times Digital Archive by using your library card number. See information here.
    Sue Mackay
    Insanity is hereditary - you get it from your kids

  3. #3
    rburland
    Guest

    Default bigamist

    Thanks Sue, I have done as you suggested but no luck I'm afraid. Grandma was Ivy Lee of Beaumont Road, Birmingham. I have the actual marriage cert which gives his name Clifton Peter Scott-Riddle, an aero-engineer and his father's profession as an MP - George Padman Scott-Riddle. All of this is false I'm sure. Kew say they might hold the relevant records but it's getting there. Many thanks for your help so far. I was able to access the Times Online via my library card so that's really useful in itself.

  4. #4
    Geoffers
    Guest

    Default

    Welcome to the B-G forums

    Quote Originally Posted by rburland
    My real Grandfather was a bigamist when he married Grandma in 1939 in Birmingham. His given name was Clifton Peter Scott-Riddle (not real) and his address was 43 Tenison Street, Lambeth.
    Can you access any Post Office Directories for this period to see who was living there?

    When you mention that he was a bigamist when he married your grandmother - do you mean that he had already committed the offence then - or he became a bigamist when he married your grandmother?

    A couple of questions, which bearing in mind the sensitivity of the case, you may not wish to discuss on open forum, but..............

    Whilst people do tell lies when they marry (and this chap obviously had a head start on most), how old did he say he was?

    Do you know if he was English, or Scottish, Welsh, Irish, or.............?


    Do you have any idea of the name of his previous wife/wives?

    Do you know roughly how long after the marriage to your grandmother, that he was found out and prosecuted?

    I carried out a search on TNA's catalogue for Bigamy trials in the period 1939-1942 and found the following:

    MEPO files - records of the Metropolitan Police

    CRIM files - records of the Central Criminal Court

    Click on the links - do you know any information which rings a bell with any of the cases mentioned?

    Would he have been charged in Birmingham or in London and what name would he have been charged under.
    It depends on circumstances - but he should have been prosecuted in the area where he committed the offence - if he had been legally married once in Birmingham and then bigamously married in London - AND there were no other offences to be considered - he would have been tried in London. He would have been charged under his birth name, but the indictment would have mentioned the alias he used.

  5. #5
    v.wells
    Guest

    Default

    My question is stupid really but how do you know that he was a bigamist?

  6. #6
    rburland
    Guest

    Default bigamist

    Thanks everyone for your help so far. Here's some more info. This man became a bigamist on marrying Grandma. His age was 30 (born 1909). I have the names of the people living at 43 Tenison Street in 1938 and 1939 from the relevant electoral rolls. They were J.F and M.H Marstin, Alvin Moore, Malcolm Shaw and Stanley Roy Webb (1938). Then the Marstins, Fred Hains, Alvin Moore in 1939.After their marriage on 18th March 1939 he said he needed to return to London for business and didn't return to Birmingham so my Grandma went to London to find he had disappeared owing rent which she paid. In the summer of that year 2 detectives visited her in Birmingham and told her he had already been married when their marriage took place. After that I know no more. This info was related to my Mum just after she married my Dad in 1959 and she was told to tell no-one else including my Dad!. Please do keep asking questions as I am determined to find this man or at least his family.
    Many thanks so far,
    Rachel

  7. #7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by rburland View Post
    Thanks everyone for your help so far. Here's some more info. This man became a bigamist on marrying Grandma. His age was 30 (born 1909). I have the names of the people living at 43 Tenison Street in 1938 and 1939 from the relevant electoral rolls. They were J.F and M.H Marstin, Alvin Moore, Malcolm Shaw and Stanley Roy Webb (1938). Then the Marstins, Fred Hains, Alvin Moore in 1939.After their marriage on 18th March 1939 he said he needed to return to London for business and didn't return to Birmingham so my Grandma went to London to find he had disappeared owing rent which she paid. In the summer of that year 2 detectives visited her in Birmingham and told her he had already been married when their marriage took place. After that I know no more. This info was related to my Mum just after she married my Dad in 1959 and she was told to tell no-one else including my Dad!. Please do keep asking questions as I am determined to find this man or at least his family.
    Many thanks so far,
    Rachel
    Do you know when in the year the electoral roles were put together? It seems to be that you need the Tenison St occupants from before and after his runner.... The police visited your Gran in the summer, and I suppose they would have seen her reasonably soon after he'd been detected/arrested, so the timing of the information collection for the roll (not its publication) could be very interesting.
    You could look for marriages for Shaw & Webb, for example. Of course, he had probably married well before, and his wife was not living with him at that address, so assume a marriage from his age 16 to 1938.....

    Lesley

  8. #8
    Reputation beyond repute
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Kent
    Posts
    16,792

    Default

    This is a question not an answer

    The bigamous marriage would be voidable. As I understand it, a decree of nullity would be required and a statement that was such a decree can be obtained from the Principal Registry of the Family Division.

    The question is - does anybody know whether it would be feasible to start investigating this case via such a decree?

  9. #9
    Joanna Bastyan
    Guest

    Default Bigamist

    I have read this thread with interest as my Grandfather was also a bigamist.
    My Grandmother & he were married in London in 1937. As soon as Gran announced she was pregnant (with my Mum)he b******d off to his wife & family in Ireland. He was Irish as was my Gran.
    Now - I only know this as Mum has told me. And the question How do you know? makes me wonder.
    If my Gran hadn't pressed charges would he have been found out (I believe Gran would have died of shame letting anyone know this).
    I know his name, don't know if it's real but not much more.

    I will definately be keeping an eye on this thread as I'd love the old so-and-so to get his come uppance although I doubt he's still alive.

  10. #10

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Goodey View Post
    This is a question not an answer

    The bigamous marriage would be voidable. As I understand it, a decree of nullity would be required and a statement that was such a decree can be obtained from the Principal Registry of the Family Division.

    The question is - does anybody know whether it would be feasible to start investigating this case via such a decree?

    Is there an english version of the scottish Register of Corrected Entries? I've seen entries in the scottish one registering that a marriage had ended in divorce - I've never seen one that ended in bigamy in there, but then I've never looked.
    Lesley

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Select a file: