Genealogy Chat

Does anyone know if Divorce Records are available anywhere on line? I have a relative who changed wives but I can't find the first wife's Death!! Neither can I find a subsequent Marriage, come to that!! Any (reasonable!!!) suggestions welcome! Hazel

Hi Georgina Thank you very much for all your information - but I'm not sure my Hester is important enough to spend all that money on!! For the moment I think I shall continue assuming she died between Censuses and spend my pennies on more promising enquiries! Thanks anyway, Hazel

Hi Hazel, I understand - this genealogy can be very expensive alright, like many others I am sure, I have spent too much so far, will have to rein myself in!!! I believe getting divorced was pretty dear for the first 50 years of the 20th Century, I think my rellie must have saved up for a long time, there is a gap of 12 years before he married again. All the best, Georgina

Some people have had a bit of luck finding divorces on teh national archives site, perhaps try putting your relatives name in there and see what comes up.

Most people couldn't afford divorces until well into the twentieth century, and of course there were social reasons for avoiding it also. A possibility that you should consider is that your relative just lied about his first wife's death when he got married the second time; this was a very common occurrence in the past, even when there were children. I have also seen assertions that if a spouse scarpered it would be possible to remarry a certain number of years afterwards if there was no communication between the two; in other words, the 'escapee' would effectively be treated as if he or she had died. I don't know how reliable this information is, though.

there are divorce records on 1837online but i think they only go up to 1903. if i remember rightly you put in a name and search then click on marriages and divorce records appear from that. I did it and found that my gg grandmother was divorced, Karen x

Andrew your right, a rellie of mine got one in the fifties, if the partner disappears and cannot be found, a divorce is granted. I think 7 years had to elapse.

Thank you all for your input. Andrew, I think you may well be right about just taking another wife without 'getting rid' of the first one! Hazel

Check the National Archives site they hold 'references' to some divorces on there.