decreee of declaration

jintymar · Post by **jintymar** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:05 pm

Just found out that my husband's grandfather was a bigamist. Unknown to us he was married before he married what we knew to be his only wife. His first marriage appears to be quite unusual. The date of the marriage is 7th january 1915, but the certificate was issued in 1916. On the certificate in column 7 it states " extract decree of declaration dated 8th January 1916 in the Court of Session. The husband was also not present. The ages are completely wrong. He was 23 but on certificate it shows about 35 and she was 56 and her age is noted as 38. Seems quite strange but it is definitely the correct people.

On his 1st world war pension record it states that he was tried and convicted of Bigamy by civil power. He was admonished. I thought it would have been dealt with at the High Court. There is a record at the scottish national archive of a decree of declarator of marriage and for payments of expenses etc, by the first wife.

Hoping that someone might have come across something like this before and could help shed some light.

Post by **emanday** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:24 pm

Hi jintymar,

A very warm welcome to [talkingscot]

I can't say I have ever come across one like that, although a few of my rellies did get married "by declaration" in front of witnesses, later having the marriage registered by Sheriff's Warrant.

I could be very wrong, but your example sounds very much like they got married by declaration, he later went off and married someone else and his first wife presented her witnessed marriage statement for registration in order to have him caught and punished.

I hope someone else will be along soon who can give you better information.

Post by **AnneM** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:43 pm

Hi

This is difficult. The original marriage must have been irregular i.e. not a religious ceremony in those days for his first wife to seek a declarator of marriage. This could have been a marriage by declaration or a cohabitation with habit and repute. The declaration of the marriage would have to be in the Court of Session.

It's possible the poor man did not know he was married.

Thereafter he was prosecuted for bigamy but I guess that the judge must have accepted that he was not clear about the status of his first 'marriage' for him to be admonished only.

Have you looked on the NAS website to see if there is any record of his trial for bigamy. Have you got the full details of the declarator from NAS? It would be fascinating to get the details of the marriage which had to be proved.

Anne

jintymar · Post by **jintymar** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:52 pm

Hi Mary
Thanks so much for replying and for the nice welcome!
Yes I think you could be right about that. As I haven't found any record of divorce, I wonder if he actually was legally married to his 'wife'. My husbands Gran. The first wife still called herself by his name and it is noted on her death certificate.
Janet

jintymar · Post by **jintymar** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:58 pm

Hi Anne

Thanks for answering. I haven't been to the NAS yet but hope to soon. I have searched for records of the trial but can find none. We also think that he was somehow duped into this marriage, because he married Granny about 2 years later. I wonder what the first wife thought she had to gain by marrying him. He was just an Irish boy new to the country and I doubt he had much cash.

Janet

Post by **emanday** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:04 pm

I wonder if he actually was legally married to his 'wife'

Hopefully Anne will confirm this for me but I'm sure that a marriage by declaration was perfectly legal, so wife number one WAS his wife! His second marriage, if no divorce from the first had taken place, was likely not legal.

Anne - Help?

Post by **AnneM** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:24 pm

Indeed. The first marriage was perfectly legal and therefore the first wife was in the eyes of the law his wife. That's why she sought a declarator in court. The second marriage was not a marriage at all if there was no divorce in between. If you contract a marriage while you are still married to someone else it is void from the start and can not thereafter be legal. There could not have been a divorce in between as he was charged with bigamy.

The only way in which the second wife could have been his legal wife would be if he divorced wife no 1 following the bigamy conviction and then remarried wife no 2 or alternatively if following the ending of the first marriage by death or divorce they continued to cohabit for long enough to constitute a marriage by cohabitation with habit and repute.

Anne

By the way, the fact that the means of proof of the marriage is by declarator in the Court of Session does not mean that the marriage was necessarily constituted by declaration of present consent. Admittedly the chances are that it was but what it does mean is that the marriage had to be proved so could not have been a properly registered regular marriage in Scotland. Possibly the poor man was denying he had ever been married the first time around.

jintymar · Post by **jintymar** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:31 pm

Hi Anne

Thanks

Can you advise me where I can check if there was a divorce

JAnet

Post by **AnneM** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:36 pm

As far as I'm aware the records of divorces at that stage are at the NAS. In addition I think they sometimes made a correction to the original marriage certificate to record the divorce.

Having said that I don't think there is any divorce here at all. I think he just married twice without getting unmarried in between!! You could check to see if he remarried the second 'wife' some time after his first 'marriage' to her.

Anne

jintymar · Post by **jintymar** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:39 pm

Hi Anne

Thanks I will get on to that.

Janet