Thanks Antony. You make a very good point. I haven’t been able to find any newspaper references to a bigamy court Case. So it may have been kept under wraps. Mary married a third time to Charles Enes Mullen on 15 Aug 1922 , two years after the bigamous marriage to Spratt. She identified as a widow, on that marriage certificate. Which I assume was referring to her first marriage.
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02-01-2019, 11:13 AM #11
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02-01-2019, 11:18 AM #12
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Another possibility is that the first marriage was not valid for some reason (perhaps Georgette was already married before), which would make the marriage in 1920 OK.
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02-01-2019, 1:18 PM #13
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Do you have the marriage certificate from 1920? If so how is Joseph Spratt described on it: widower - bachelor etc?
Whilst not conclusive proof of anything, as people lie all the time on certificates, it MIGHT give us an indication of what happened to Georgette.
I think it must be a possibility that the first marriage was nullified in some way, rather than a divorce, and I wonder if it would be worth approaching the local record office to see if they have any records about such matters.
I think also that I would agree that Georgette was not British based on the occupation given for her father which I feel sure is a translated expression, as I never seen it used for a British occupation.
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02-01-2019, 1:51 PM #14
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Hi Megan
Yes. I have all 3 Marriage Certificates. Oral family history confirms the first marriage was legitimate to Thomas Septimus Silverton on 24 Feb 1906 to Mary Britton. They had three children; William b 1907, John b 1909 and Mary b 1911. Then Thomas Silverton died in 1916 at Picardy, France during WWI.
Subsequently Mary Silverton ‘widow’ Aged 37, married Joseph Spratt ‘Bachelor’ aged 35 on 23 Nov 1920. If Georgette Guerville (Joseph’s first Wife from his marriage on 28 Dec 1918) had died in the meantime, he would have identified as a ‘widow’.
Oral family history has it that family counselled Mary against marrying Joseph as this meant her War Pension would be discontinued. The bigamous nature of Mary’s marriage to Joseph was discovered somehow, and oral history has it that Joseph’s first wife, Georgette was French.
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02-01-2019, 8:03 PM #15
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Yes. I can see that might be a possibility. Shame that I can’t find any records for Georgette Guerville/Spratt to determine what happened to her after the marriage. Maybe she returned to France, or died without trace in the UK?
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02-01-2019, 9:49 PM #16
I wonder whether Georgette was a war bride? Brought home as a slightly glamorous trophy...
Joseph's medal card puts him into 3 regiments:
East Yorkshire Regt, number 4142
44th Btn Royal Fus, number 110948 (note small differences from marriage cert)
Labour Corps, number 399435
There's a 4th number on his card, 14340, but no regiment with it.
She might have taken one look at post WW1 Northumberland and a possible life as a miner's wife, and headed home to France.
It might be worth checking where the 44th Btn were in 1917/1918...
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02-01-2019, 10:01 PM #17
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You could try French site Geneanet.
A simple search for a Georgette Guerville produces a number of results, mostly entries on family trees. The marriage to Joseph Spratt is recorded.
However, searching further (e.g.for French bmds) requires registration and an annual subscription of 50 euros!
Peter
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02-01-2019, 10:20 PM #18
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That’s great Lesley. Thanks for all that Military info.
I did find info on a J Spratt ages ago. However, Can I assume that the record below is not my J Spratt, as the numbers don’t align with the ones you have?
First Name:
J
Surname:
Spratt
Age:
18
Index Number of Admission:
13935
Rank:
Private
Service Number:
15087
Years Service:
1 year 6 months
Months With Field Force:
7 months
Ailment:
Malaria
Date Transferred to Other Hospitals:
14/10/1916
Number/Designation of Ward:
G3
Notes written in the Observations Column:
Hospital Ship Wandilla. No. 25 Casualty Clearing Station.
Religion:
Church of England
Regiment:
Northumberland Fusiliers
Battalion:
2nd Battalion (Why is this important?)
Other unit info:
C Company
Archive Reference:
MH106/1324
MH106/1324 can be found at The National Archives in Kew, and contains First World War Representative Medical Records of No. 28 General Hospital: British Other Ranks SALONIKA.
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02-01-2019, 10:34 PM #19
You can never be sure with those records, but the guy I found matches the info on the marriage cert you have apart from one digit in the number, right down to the 44th Btn.
"J", on the other hand, is with the Northumberland Fus, his age is given as 18 in 1916, and your Joseph's age in 1918 was given as 30 on his marriage cert. It's not your guy.
There are cards for a number of Spratts with names beginning with J!
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02-01-2019, 10:36 PM #20
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Yeah. You are 100% on the ball. I’m ditching that info I found. It doesn’t fit properly at all. Thanks
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