Bigamy 1920 m Joseph Spratt X Mary Silverton

[LeeTasOz]

Hi. I refer to the following Marriage - Name Joseph Spratt
Date of Registration 1920 - Oct-Nov-Dec[1920]
Registration district Salford
Inferred County Lancashire
Spouse Mary Silverton
Volume Number 8d
Page number 252
Verbal family history records that this was a bigamous marriage as Joseph was still married to his first wife Georgette Guerville who he married in 1918 (Spratt, Guerville - 10b 511). Can anyone help me track down court records or newspaper references relating to a charge of bigamy, as I have had no luck finding any? Regards Lee

[Peter Goodey]

I think your first job is to obtain the marriage certificates.

[LeeTasOz]

Hi Peter
Yes, I have received the marriage certificate for the 1920 Spratt- Silverton marriage from the GRO. On the certificate, Joseph said he was a bachelor, which was incorrect as he had married Georgette 2 years earlier. Another forum had a discussion about this topic which said.....A marriage which is later KNOWN (by the Registrar) to be bigamous, cannot be removed from the Register (nothing can be removed). What should happen is that the Registrar notes a reference number against the entry, which alerts the clerks to the fact that they cannot issue this certificate without reference to the Registrar, or his Book of Corrections..A request by you to the Registrar in this case for a copy Marriage Cert should bring the response ‘We are unable to issue a certificate because the information you gave does not match that on the certificate”. You gave the info that a MARRIAGE HAD TAKEN PLACE, when legally it hadnt. In theory, therefore, you should not be able to see an entry, even in the Indexes. ..............So if that post is correct, it means the Registrar is not aware of the marriage being bigamous?.. Anyway, happy for any other advice. Regards Lee

[Megan Roberts]

Like you I can't find any newspaper reports of a bigamy trial.

I would if the answer might lie in "who was Georgette Guerville"? If you put her name in the commercial genealogical site search engines the only 'hit' you get is her marriage to Joseph Spratt, and that's looking on a Worldwide basis, with at least one site!

She and Joseph married on 28 Dec 1918 at the church of Our Lady and St. Wilfred in Blyth. Northumberland. The only thing that's available on line is a transcription, and as that has Joseph's name in Latin, it is probably a Catholic church. I think it might be of help to get a copy of that marriage certificate to see how she and her father are described. Maybe there would be clues there.

The only other record I came across was the list of passengers sailing to Melbourne on the Orsova on 30 July 1920 there a 37 year old Miss G Spratt, a waitress. No other information.

[LeeTasOz]

Thanks Megan
Yes. Georgette Guerville is the invisible woman. The family gossip was that there ywas a French Connection with the bigamous marriage, which I’m assuming is Georgette. The other thing to note is that Mary Silverton then went on to marry Charles Enes Mullen on 15 Aug 1922 at Haslingden. I have a copy of that marriage certificate, where she marries under the name Mary Silverton (not Spratt). This confirms that the Spratt marriage was bigamous I think. Mary’s first marriage was to Thomas Septimus Silverton at Cambois on 24 Feb 1906. Thomas died in 1916, hence why she is described as a widow in both subsequent marriage certificates in 1920 and 1922. Mary and Charles then emigrated to Australia in 1927. Would be funny if Georgette ended up there too! I will have to get the Spratt/Guerville marriage certificate now I think. Regards Lee

[Peter Goodey]

I will have to get the Spratt/Guerville marriage certificate now I think

Precisely

[LeeTasOz]

Marriage Cert details follow.... Any help in sorting further details greatly appreciated...
Marriage solemnised 28 Dec 1918 at the Roman Catholic Church, Waterloo Blyth, County Of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Joseph Spratt 30, Bachelor, no 112948 Pte 44th Base Royal Garrison Fuseliers (Coal Hewer). Residence - 13 Sinkers Row, Cambois Colliery; Father- George Spratt - deceased (Coal Miner -Charge man)X Georgette Guerville 28, spinster, no occupation, same address; Father - Georges Guerville; Cultivator....in the presence of John C Spratt and Charlotte Croft; Thomas Ambrose Bamford - Catholic Priest.

[Lesley Robertson]

Have you looked for a death registration for Georgette? Does she appear in the 1911 census?

[AntonyMMM]

A marriage being bigamous would be invalid but doesn't automatically meant that there would be any court case or prosecution.

In 1932 a note from the the Registrar General about the issue of certificates of potentially bigamous marriages specifically required that certificates should be issued with no annotation and went on to say:

"A marriage entry is not a guarantee that a valid marriage subsists between the parties specified, it is a record of the fact that a marriage was celebrated between certain persons after fulfilment of all the requirements of the law."

[LeeTasOz]

Thanks for your reply Lesley. I can’t find any record of her on ancestry.com for death or UK census. Very happy to be proven wrong though ! Lol