Find Ancestors

No I don't know whether they had divorced or not. Not really sure how I would go about finding that out.

No Tina, proof wasn't necessarily required - that's why there was quite a bit of bigamy in those days.

No, I don't know whether or not they had divorced. I really wouldn't know where to start to find that out. Would she not have had to produce a death certificate or even evidence of a divorce before she could have re-married?

Tina, do you know if she and your grandfather actually divorced?

If not, then she may just have referred to herself as a widow (it did happen).

I applied for a copy of the Marriage Certificate of Christina (Christiana) Hardy to Victor James Lloyd. (01.07.1948). It shows her father as being Arthur Metcalfe (deceased) being a Chief Railway Clerk so that would tie in with the information I have about my paternal grandmother and her father. However, it does say that she was a widow on the Marriage Certificate. But my paternal grandfather didn't die until 1963. Would it have been a case that they wouldn't have put "previous marriage dissolved" on marriage certificate?

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.page/board/genealogy_chat/thread/1269962

Ok. I guess this is the only way isn't it? It's just the expense if it turns out not to be the information I want. It feels a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack lol My uncle is the only survivor from the three children. My dad and their sister had always wondered and had tried to find out some information but without any luck. It would be nice if I could find out something for my uncle so at least one of them knows something.

Thank you for everyone's help. I will wait till pay day and order the 1948 and 1952 marriage certificates.

Tina

Hi Tina, seeing as you know her father's name as Arthur then it would be worth getting the 1948 and/or 1952 marriage certificates to compare the father's name on those.

Her father's name was Arthur Metcalfe and her mother's name Fanny Jane Simpson. I have the marriage certificate for them which shows Arthur to be a Clerk. On Christina's marriage certificate to John Hardy it shows Arthur, her father, to be a Railway Clerk.

John Hardy died on the 23rd December 1963 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.

I'm not sure whether there was any communication between the two of them but possibly there was, but not that their children were aware of. They never knew whether she just left or whether it was their father that told/made her leave.

Tina, I think I would order one of the marriage certificates first as that would give her father's name. You would then see if it matches the details from her marriage to John Hardy. Unlike Scottish death certificates, I don't think that English ones give the names of the parents of the deceased so a death certificate at this stage wouldn't prove that she was your lady.

I wouldn't be too concerned either about her first name as people often chop and change which form of their first name that they use.

When I search for a death (on Ancestry), I only entered a first name of Christ* and her actual date of birth that you had given us. The death I posted was the only one I found to match the criteria.

When did John Hardy die please? It may be that she didn't divorce him but waited until he had died before re-marrying.

Her birth certificate does name her as Christiana Metcalfe but on her marriage certificate to my grandfather , John Hardy, it shows her as Christina Metcalfe and the census of 1901 shows her as Christina as well.

I feel that a death certificate would therefore show her as Christina and not Christiana.

I guess the only way I would be able to check that these entries may be the Christina I am after is to order a copy of the death certificates?

Tina

???

Name: George W Morley
Death Registration Month/Year: 1967
Age at death (estimated): 72
Registration district: Brighton
Inferred County: Sussex
Volume: 5h
Page: 136

Probably not that one as it looks like she was Lloyd before Morley.

Name: Christiana Lloyd
Spouse Surname: Morley, George W.
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1952
Registration district: Brighton
Registration county (inferred): Sussex
Volume Number: 5h
Page Number: 91


Well maybe Hardy before she was Lloyd?


Name: Christiana Hardy
Spouse Surname: Lloyd, Victor F.
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1948
Registration district: Hove
Registration county (inferred): Sussex
Volume Number: 5h
Page Number: 795


So that looks like the death of your lady?



Second husband's death?

Name: Victor F Lloyd
Death Registration Month/Year: 1950
Age at death (estimated): 77
Registration district: Chelsea
Inferred County: London
Volume: 5c
Page: 280

????

Name: Christiania Morley
Birth Date: 23 Apr 1900
Death Registration Month/Year: 1982
Registration district: Brighton
Inferred County: East Sussex
Volume: 18
Page: 0205


I don't se a Hardy / Morley marriage though to tie in with that so maybe not your lady?

Her exact date of birth is 23rd April 1900. I can't remember now where I got the information from for the death of a Christina A Hardy but having looked on Ancestry I find there are a number of deaths for Christina Hardy's that don't give the dates of birth.

Tina

What is Christina's exact date of birth?
Which year for death of Christina A Hardy (and where does the A come from)?
Thanks

Hi everyone - I wrote off to GRO to do a search and they have sent me the Birth Certificate for my grandmother. Her first name appears to be incorrectly shown as Christiana (unless it is the handwriting?). Thank you all so much for your input! It's really appreciated.

I'm now at a stumbling block as to which route to take now. Because my father, his brother & sister were left with their dad and did not remember anything about their mum. I've done some searches for deaths and have only found one for a Christina A. Hardy (born 1900). It could well be that she had re-married. And there are no records for divorces? My dad as a child was in London so that would have been her last known whereabouts and they believed she worked as a domestic. My dad does remember a lady coming up to him when he was a child playing outside. She stopped and gave him a penny to go and buy some sweets. He believed this was his mum but that was the last time she was seen (approx 1926/1928) & my grandfather wouldn't allow her name to be mentioned.

Any suggestions on which path I should take now would be greatley appreciated - thank you.
Tina

Have not Andrew and PricklyHolly found the same birth?
Christiana Metcalfe has been hand written onto a typed page as an after amendment. It is quite feasible that Christiana and Christina are the same person.

Well she was married in 1920, and as she was 10 on the 1911, Andrew's 1900 seems right to me.

Marriages Mar 1920
Metcalfe Christina Hardy Paddington 11a 77


Ozi

Edit - also she is on the 1901 census so she must have been born before April 1901. Born April, May, June 1900 makes her 19 for a pre April 1920 marriage.

Andrew: Christina Metcalfe was born in 1900/1901. She was 19 when she married my grandfather in 1921.
PricklyHolly: Thanks for all the information you have provided which I have already got. Do you think though that it is possible that the Christiana Metcalfe you have found could be the same as the Christina Metcalfe I am looking for? (an error in the spelling of the name when registered?)