Divorce records

[behindthefrogs]

Are we distinguishing between obtaining a record that confirms that a couple were divorced and obtaining the papers that show the basis of that divorce?  My original post referred to the papers associated with a divorce and my experience is that these were closed for a hundred years.  It is however some years since I obtained details of a divorce and the situation may have changed.

[KGarrad]

The Probate Registry, part of Her Majesty's Courts & Tribunals Service, has a Central Index of Decrees Absolute.
This can be searched using form D440.

The National Archives has the Divorce Case Files in J77.
It was TNA that I applied for the case files for my grandfather's divorce.

[MargP]

I got my dads divorce papers from there dated 1920

Margp

I got about 15 pages on my dads divorce paper from NA,and very interesting reading too, and a lot of surprises, there was no Decree Nisi with these paper, so I requested a search from the government for this, so there was no 100 year law on either

[MargP]

Thanks KGerrad

I could not recall the details of where the search for the decree was from

Marg

[rosie99]

I really need to find his middle name, all I can find is James Brown with no middle name.

What makes you think he had a middle name?

Have you traced him back before his marriage.  I wonder if police records for his service prior to going to Canada are available.

Rosie

You may get information on his police career
http://www.westmidlandspolicemuseum.co.uk/information.htm

http://www.westmidlandspolicemuseum.co.uk/birminghamcitypolice.htm

[jorose]

http://www.automatedgenealogy.com/census11/
 - Jas. Brown (b. Feb    1862) and Sydney Brown (b. May 1892) are lodgers in Winnipeg in the 1911 census. Years of immigration are listed differently so it's possible they arrived separately.

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/divorce/index-e.html
- Canadian divorce index here (don't see them, though I'm not sure if this is everything or only divorces through some particular courts). At the time, divorce in the Western provinces was governed by English law, so the same rules would have applied (e.g. she would have had to prove adultery + desertion).  "Widow" was much easier.

Re closed/open records: rules on which documents are publicly available have changed over the years (in some cases they're more like guidelines). You can tell by looking at the National Archives catalogue whether something is available or not because records which are "closed" will be marked as such:

This document is closed and cannot be viewed or re-produced as a digital or printed copy.

[adeline B]

Hi,

Not sure Jas.Brown is my guy Is Jas short for James Not sure he had a middle name,but it would certainly help narrow done the search

I appreciate all the the replays from everyone and thank you for all the information given to help with my search.

Adeline B

[rosie99]

Is Jas short for James

Yes     


I wonder what happened to Sydney 

[adeline B]

Hi Rosie,

My great uncle Sydney fought in WW1&2, He passed away in the mid 1980s. None of Fanny's children had contact with their father James Brown.I guess if she's calling her self a widow then she did not file for divorce.I know she did not remarry,don't know what happened to James Brown

Adeline B