Thanks,
My speculation is based on research I did for a friend whose
grandfather, who lost a leg in the Great War, had two separate families.
I then thought about the demographics of the country just after the
Great War and a comment made in one of the Who Did You Think You Are?
Documentaries on the BBC that Bigamy was a common crime then.
Maybe my friend's grandfather was just an oddity or 60 years ahead of
his time!
David
-----Original Message-----
From: From: Local-History list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of A.E.Milton-Worssell
Sent: 12 October 2005 13:01
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Bigamy in the 1920s
Dear David,
I find it fascinating that you are undertaking this. I was doing a
survey in the local newspaper (surrey advertiser) on marriage during
World War I and became distracted by the number of cases of bigamy that
were reported. However the numbers male/female seemed fairly even -
many of the women saying that because they hadn't seen or heard from
their first husband for some time they 'sort of thought' he might be
dead, and therefore they were a widow. I think we sometimes
underestimate the dislocation that happened in Britain in this period,
and that men - even when they came back from the war - might be so
shell-shocked they didn't find their way back home!
Anne Milton-Worssell
-----Original Message-----
From: From: Local-History list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of GATLEY David A
Sent: 12 October 2005 11:29
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Bigamy in the 1920s
Hi Everyone,
Does anyway out there know anything about bigamy and dual family
fathering (i.e. of men maintaining two separate families at the same
time) in the 1920s?
Given the loss of life in the First World War (700,000 men dead) and the
large numbers injured there was a distinct shortage of men to go around.
This leads me to speculate that a large number of men, may have been
running two households at the same time either with or without the
knowledge of one or both 'spouses'.
I did once hear that bigamy reached a peak in the 1920s and if this is
so, it seems reasonable to speculate that the official figures were only
the tip of a much large iceberg.
David
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