Hi there everyone, can anyone advise me regarding historical divorces? I am relatively convinced that an extended member of my family was previously married (as 'confirmed' by 2 census record entries) and I have found his marriage certificate to my direct relative. However, after pain-staking search of the complete BMD (praise those who informed me of this rather than the freeBMD!) I have found no record of the wife's death- nothing remotely close. What I need to know is about divorce, however unlikely it seems! I reckon I'm barking up the wrong tree really, but I want to see if I can figure this out anyway

I know divorce was uncommon in the 1900's but I don't know how it was done and how common- say for example the man had an affair, could he then divorce the wife? Would it have been accessible to poorer families? Gosh I wish I had the 1911 census, many of my relatives seem to have 'life events' in either 1902 or 1912!
As a little aside, if your husband was transported to Australia for a crime what was then your marital status? A different relative has remarried (1830s) and she is not a 'widower'- does the word divorce even come into this or was it just assumed that transported men weren't coming back and you should get on with things? Legally would that be sound?!
Thanks

Paula
ID:2535