Divorce in 1911. Help Please

[kerszk]

Hello
I am wondering if anyone know anything about divorce in the Church of England around 1911. I am trying to find out how long it would take or where the church dissolved marriages.
I am trying to work out if a relative got a divorce before remarrying.
Is there anywhere that it would be recorded?
Thanks for any help.
Kerry

[stanmapstone]

The Church of England had nothing to do with divorce in 1911. The divorce law changed on 11 January 1858, from which date the new secular Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes heard all divorce and matrimonial cases. See http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/divorce-after-1858.htm

Stan

[kerszk]

Thank you Stan
I had a read and and did a few searches but was unable to find anything on the fellow I am looking for. Kerry

[sillgen]

Divorce often depended on the social status of your family in those days.  If you were rich you could afford it.  If not, then you just moved on and either married bigamously or just lived together.
Andrea

[kerszk]

Hi Sillgen
I thought that might be the case and I was hoping someone would confirm it for me. I have a relative who married in 1904 . Left his wife and ran off with a mistress to Australia in 1911. He married the same year. I was trying to find out if he divorced his first wife. He was a dock labourer in the 1891 census. I cant quite work out what he did in the 1901 census but it states a "worker" so I guess he was not a rich man.
Family story has that there was a bit of scandal so I guess this might be why. Thanks Kerry

[stanmapstone]

It is a common belief that you had to be wealthy to get a divorce after 1858,  the very poor could sue without payment of fees 'in forma pauperis' if they could prove their lack of means.
See http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/divorce-after-1858.htm

Stan

[kerszk]

Thanks Stan
I have a feeling he did both with the formality of a divorce. Think he just ran off with his new woman. Interesting reading. Cheers Kerry

[jorose]

If he was the one who had left her and run off, he couldn't get a divorce, even if he'd qualified for assistance or come into a sudden inheritance. No such thing as no-fault divorce in those days. (see "grounds for divorce" at Stan's link).