Genealogy Chat

I can't see any difference between the two references for the Mullen / Anderson marriage. And, unfortunately, lancs bmd only gives the bmds for the year, not by quarter.

There are not two entries on Freebmd so far as I can see,

Could they have made an error on the first form and had to re-issue it?

Although not quite the same, something similar occured with a birth certificate. The 1st had the wrong surname on it. It was the surname they used in the community, but not a 'legal' on. That one was cancelled and a different recorded. Both the gro references are on Freebmd, but only the corrected BC would be issued.

Interestingly, there are two entries for the marriage on lancs bmd ..............


Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1915

MULLEN Eleanor M ANDERSON Magnus Toxteth Park, Register Office or Registrar Attended Liverpool REG_TP/53/11
MULLEN Eleanor M ANDERSON Magnus Toxteth Park, Register Office or Registrar Attended Liverpool REG_TP/53/12


The registration numbers are different, with no indicationas to why

I viewed some of the papers for a 1920's divorce in Kew.

I didn't think of looking in the press at the time, but have recently done a newspaper search for the husband regarding something else and found nothing.

Forgot to ask where this all took place ....

Re: the newspapers, divorce was a lot less common in the 1930s so there often were articles in the newspapers then, especially if it was a "juicy" case. More recently, our local newspaper used to publish weekly lists of all decrees nisi and absolute - that was up until the 1970s - so I guess it depends on location.

If the couple had married bigamously there wouldn't have been a divorce - the marriage would have been annulled as if it had never taken place.

The fact that the National Archives have a record of a divorce would suggest to me that the marriage was legal.

When my parents divorced in 1960 there was no mention of it in newspapers as far as I am aware.

This is the marriage:-

First name(s) ELEANOR M
Last name MULLEN
Marriage quarter 4
Marriage year 1915
Registration month -
MarriageFinder™ ELEANOR M MULLEN married
MAGNUS ANDERSON
Spouse's last name ANDERSON
District TOXTETH PARK
District number -
County Lancashire
Country England
Volume 8B
Page 438

Kath. x

Hello David, have you requested an estimate to have the divorce records digitised by National Archives? Or are you able to get to Kew to view them?

I would expect that if their marriage really was bigamous then they wouldn't actually need a divorce.

Magnus Anderson married Eleanor Mullen in 1915 (bigamously?)
1933: Divorce - Appelant Eleanor May Anderson, respondent Magnus Anderson (National Archives).
Problem: I can't find any further account of the divorce proceedings in newspapers or elsewhere, which is puzzling.
Please can anyone find information about the divorce proceedings and outcome?
David