Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

My Father, Geoffrey Richard Harbord married Jean Peggotty Thompson (Peggy) in 1932. They divorced during WW2. My parents were married in June 1944 following the divorce. I can find no records of Jean Peggotty Thompson after that. My Father used to say they divorced "because she ran off with a GI". However I have no evidence of that and a relation in the USA has searched records of GIs arriving home with new wives/girlfriends and has found nothing. Can anyone help?

I am particularly interested to know why there were no children. Knowing my Father, he would have said if there had been.

Richard (Harbord)

Hi and welcome to the forum. It would appear that there were no children to the marriage, at least none appear with parents of those names in either Lancashire or Cheshire.

A great pity that there is less than 0.2% of divorce documents held at the National Archives post 1937, so that isn't going to be a very successful search.

We have tried to put together a few suggestions for searching for living people on another post - here

http://www.forum.liverpool-genealogy.or ... =14&t=8154

My best suggestion would be to post on Genesreunited as this is a very popular site for people searching for descendants as opposed to ancestors, and has subscribers around the world.

richardharbord wrote:My Father, Geoffrey Richard Harbord married Jean Peggotty Thompson (Peggy) in 1932. They divorced during WW2. My parents were married in June 1944 following the divorce. I can find no records of Jean Peggotty Thompson after that. My Father used to say they divorced "because she ran off with a GI". However I have no evidence of that and a relation in the USA has searched records of GIs arriving home with new wives/girlfriends and has found nothing. Can anyone help?

I am particularly interested to know why there were no children. Knowing my Father, he would have said if there had been.
Richard (Harbord)

MaryA has posted a suggestion as to finding people living or recently deceased. It also a good idea to post ages, or in this case the year of birth for Jean..
Births Jun 1907 - Wirral - 8a - 448: THOMPSON, Jean Peggotty.

It would be worth trying to find the divorce papers. If the full document set cannot be found you may still be able to get a copy of the Decree Absolute.
This from the National Archives: Decrees absolute (1858 to present).
Find the Decree Absolute to obtain legal proof of a divorce in England or Wales by requesting a search (£) of the Central Index of Decrees Absolute. To do so, download Form D440 from Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service website and post it to the Principal Registry of the Family Division.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/reco ... lp=rg-3175

That could indicate when the divorce proceedings were initiated and by whom and when the Decree Absolute was finally granted. You may discover that your father and his wife actually separated within a couple of years of their marriage. That could explain the absence of children. 'Quickie' divorces at a low cost did not come into law until after WW2. Prior to that it was a choice of either a quite expensive procedure for a relatively quick divorce or proof of a long separation, usually over 7 years, and a 'low cost' divorce in the local High Court.

I have sent you a PM.

Thanks MaryA. There is another route I can take to find about the divorce. Some of my parents documents are in store and have been for some years. I will have to go and get them out and see if there is anything about the divorce there. That won't tell me anything abot Peggy afterwards will it? Would such a document show whether she reverted to her maiden name? Ancestry shows nothing for either Jean Peggotty Thompson or for Jean Peggotty Harbord. I do have a copy of their marriage cert. The surname is misspelled Harboard and I've tried that too with no success.

Richard

If you find the divorce papers, or even the decree absolute from the National Archives, it's doubtful that it will give any information about Jean afterwards, however it just might give a co-respondent if there was one, perhaps giving you a clue as to a later marriage.

Hi D.S
The birth you found in 1907 is in Ches BMD at Woodchurch, perhaps the family were in the area in census 10yrs after 1901, I'm thinking Chester.
btw Ches BMD have also updated all their BMD's on 13th March.
No marriages for a Peggotty (thinking it may have been a family maiden name)

In the Schweppes D.S
67 Watergate St Chester
Jean P... Thompson 6 grandchild, mother Georgina Matilda Thompson bn Chester, marr 6 yrs 2 children 1 deceased
26yrs asst clerk, living with parents
Wm Coventry 61 stationer & newsagent bn Chester, Harriet 67 bn Worcs (1881 Hereford), Samuel Ernest 25 bn Chester single chauffeur.
Marriage Georgina M to Charles Thompson,Chester Sep qr 1905 (free bmd)
Holy Trinity Chester (Ches BMD)

Richard replied offline to me Thanks for that - fingers crossed that something will come up

Hi,
Thanks for the Schweppessssss find Tina.
I have suggested to Richard that a search for Jean as a householder in a 1930s directory might throw some light on the circumstances.

Good tip D.S
Peggotty finally clicked, Charles Dickens.
Perhaps Georgina loved his books!