Genealogy Chat

Does anyone know if a death cert would show the wifes name if the couple had been divorced or seperated & she re-married ( with or without the divorce)?

I have a male realative ( uncle) who I am trying to find out more about, without buying too many certs.

I know the birth info - his parents etc.

There is a possible marriage ( mid 1930's)....but two men have the same name & date of birth in the same town, Leicester ( chances of that eh?)
One of the men is MY relative. -

He had a son with his wife and maybe another ( or she may have adopted or had this 2nd child by another partner )

He died in 1993 Bradford. I believ his son lived there. ( the 'other' man died in 1936 )

I am trying to confirm - his wifes name - his sons names - whether his wife re-married......
I cant afford too spend much money - any advise please?

ps - I have contacted people via G.R. who I believed may have been the decendents of MY man, ie I contacted the decendents of the 'wife' shown in the only marriage I could find. - they said that they had been told the wife re-married (1937ish) after her husband had died in the war.......
but all the info I have seems to fit this woman being my uncles husband!
I am wondering if she 'made up' the story of his death so that she could 'move on' after leaving him..........or - am I barking up the wrong tree?
was her first husband the one who died in 1936?

How best to go forward? at low cost.

Many thanks
Gill
I want to find as much info as possible by buying just one cert

Most death certificate will name the person who registered the death, on my early ones all it states is 'the son/wife/husband' of ect. and on the more recent ones not much has changed.

It will not tell you the name of a partner if the couple have divorced unless that person is the one doing the registering. But then it may not tell you that Joan Smith registering Bert Brown's death is his ex-wife.

And then you get those where the death is registered by a neighbour/social services or the executor of the will.

yep - thought as much.

I suspect that my uncles death cert will probably tell me that his son registered the death ( if Im lucky) at least that will confirm the sons name - which I think I may already have.......so not much more.

I am hesitating to buy the marriage cert of the couple that married as it may turn out to be not my uncle - but this other man with the same name - and then again- I wont have got very far - except to exclude the wife from my 'possibles' list........

not sure what to do next.........

I would order the marriage certificate from the GRO by telephone. Sometimes you get someone who is quite helpful and therefore you could tell them that you only want the marriage certificate if the father of the groom is called - (whatever the father of your man is called).

They may be helpful and tell you that the name of the groom's father is or isn't the name you give.

Kath. x

ok thats great - thanks Kath

Which 'war' was the man supposed to have died in, if the 'widow' re-married c1937?

The only one - as far as I know - at that time was the Spanish Civil War, which started in 1936.

I very much doubt if the GRO will tell you that the name of the groom's father is or isn't the name you give. They are not geared up to do that sort of thing.

The RO where the event was originally registered, if it is a smaller one, might do that.

At the end of the day you will need to buy certs, everything else is pure supposition.

Sorry, no easy answer.

GRO, apparently, will undertake a 3 year (possibly wider) search for an event with given parameters. You do have to phone to ask.

Hopefully it isn't a common name!

i havent got a death cert for a man that describes him as husband or widower of . A wife death cert though does says wife or widow of and her husband's name. The informant though may be a family member ie the spouse or child of the deceased which may help.

Can only say what I have got on umpteen death certs I have bought

I have seen this but only on Scottish and Australian certificates. They state if married (and who to) and the names and occupations of subsequent spouses.

Not much help to you I guess being an English death you are searching for but it might help someone else thinking the same question for a differing country.

Actually, you do not necessarily have to phone the GRO to ask for a three year search - it can also be done on-line - I know because I have done it....!

The procedure is in the instructions, albeit a bit tucked away, but basically you leave the GRO ref blank, and enter the event date as 01/01/yyyy where yyyy is the middle year of the three that you wish to have searched. Enter only as much as additional info as you know to be correct. As soon as they find a cert which matches your criteria, it will be issued and the search will stop there. If no search is found then you get a full refund. Certs take one month to be sent out.