Divorce in 1820s

[forest]

Would anyone be able to tell me, please, just how likely (or not) would it be for a 'workman' to divorce his wife during the 1820s?

If it was at all likely, is there any way I could find a record of such a divorce?

Any help would be much appreciated.  Thanks

forest

[GreySquirrel]

If resident in England & Wales, the answer is "not at all". At that date divorce had to be by Act of Parliament.

Unsatisfactory marriages were informally dissolved, of course. People separated and became estranged. After seven years or so they might try to re-marry (probably illegally, of course) on the grounds of the probable death of the estranged spouse. Or else they might re-marry bigamously.

Remember also that not everyone would have bothered getting married in the first place. Some subcultures -- tin miners in Cornwall, if I recall correctly, and costermongers in London -- were renowned for not bothering. When Mayhew's London Labour & The London Poor came out in 1851 or thereabouts, he estimated (if my memory serves me correctly) that only 5% of costermongers were legally married: the remainder just cohabited.