Divorce - 1925 - 1950

[denniskelly]

Can anyone advise as to how common divorce occurred in England (i.e.: Liverpool Lancashire) between the mid 1920s and 1950s.  I have a relative that may have (unconfirmed) left/deserted his family for another.  Would he have gotten a divorce and if so can this information be found.  I assume, because he would have been a working man and not rich, that he would have just left his first family.   How common was it for unmarried people to live together during this period?

Thank you.

[nanny jan]

Hi,

This might be helpful:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/divorce.htm



Nanny Jan

[Radcliff]

My great grandmother left her husband in the Isle of Man,lived as man and wife and had four children,in England,before eventauly marrying legaly in church,she wasnt divorced ,but had had no contact with her husband or children for over ten years,I was told that this is legal ,something to do with length of seperation,

[Mavals]

I lived in Lancashire cotton town and the " D" word was only used in hushed tones and certainly not in front of us children (I was born 1950) so even in fifties and early sixties divorce was rare.  Women in particular would have found it difficult to get a divorce unless she had a good job or private means. ( no legal aid to pay the lawyers' bills) If a woman had committed adultery her husband might divorce her but she would probably not get custody of her children, so people stayed together but lived separate lives or just walked away.

People did live together, and the quaint expression " Ower't brush" ( Over the brush) was used to describe a couple living together. Somehow it doesn't seem quite as judgmental as Living in Sin!  Although I understand the phrase has its origins in Lancashire witch history, which required people to jump over a besom brush.

And of course any children were " on the wrong side of the blanket"

[Mavals]

My great grandmother left her husband in the Isle of Man,lived as man and wife and had four children,in England,before eventauly marrying legaly in church,she wasnt divorced ,but had had no contact with her husband or children for over ten years,I was told that this is legal ,something to do with length of seperation,

Not sure that is true.

If someone was "lost" for more than 7 years an application could be made for presumption of death which would then permit re marriage.

[denniskelly]

Thank you for your interest and replies.

[Radcliff]

Oh she was lost all right untill I picked up the trail,skeletons in cupboards,even my own aunts didnt know about their mothers birth as she was registered with her fathers name ,it was only when I was looking through the church records for that parish,for her baptism, I discovered the marriage of her parents,what a shock ,but it doesnt matter to me,at all,