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This is rather a long story, but I will try to cut a long story short. I am trying to find out more about my gt gt uncle Henry Robert Boast Blake born 1860 Norwich. I have found him in all the censes. Up until 1891 all is ok. He was license of the Kings Arms in Norwich & married to Sophia Gent born Norwich 1862. In the 1891 census it shows he has left Sophia & gone back home to his parents. Then there was nothing until I found a contact who is a decentant of his & could tell me he had changed his name to Youngs & moved to London where he married Eleanor Bottomly 1867 born Bermondsey, London
I now also find he changed his age as well as in the 1911 census he is the same age as Eleanor. I want to find out more about him but mostly, was he still married to Sophia when he married Eleanor .Sophia died in 1901 after Henry married Eleanor in 1895.
Are there any divorce records available. If there is anyone who could help I would be so grateful.

Divorce was fairly unusual but worth a look. They are name indexed on the National Archives website. I would have had a look for you but they have technical problems at the moment. You need to go to Search the Catalogue, put the surname into the search and use J77 as the reference to be searched.

Thank you for your reply, I will try just that.
I too would have thought that it would have been quite hard for them to get a divorce, & then why bother to change his name????

I'd bet he married bigamously. Sounds quite an enterprising chap - why change his name otherwise?
A word of caution though - are you certain this is the same man? What evidence have you got?
Jan

Hi Jan,
His grandaughter told me he changed his name. She has him on her tree as Henry Robert Boast Blake but Henry Robert Youngs on his marriage certificate & death certificate & his birth name is quite outstanding. Not one that anyone will share, I shouldnt think.
Not much room for any dought.

Well, we all want a scoundrel in our tree don't we? Maybe being named Boast had a bad effect on him!
Jan

He was one of five brothers, no sisters & they all had a tale to tell. My grandfather James William Boast Blake gassed himself in my grandmothers house & their other brother William John Boast Blake shot himself in his garden shed. He had served in the Boar war & ended up in Belmont Surrey, where in worked in a lunatic asilum. Still working on the others.

This should be tragic, but it made me laugh! What a family! (Are you feeling OK yourself??)
Jan

Im feeling well enough but Im not sure my mum is, lol.
Mum is 86 now & I had to tell her last year her father wasnt her father after all. This all in a family we thought was quite an ornidary family. Her father died 2 years before she was born, clever man, died from injuries in WW1 in 1921. Her mother lied to her & her 4 other siplings. Guess what, her mother was the daughter of James william boast blake. What a family, lol.

Hi Janice, there is a Youngs Brewery in London and Youngs is a very old organisation. I know there is a connection with Henry to the pub trade so I wonder if he changed his name in connection with that. The brewery is in Wandworth London. I they have a webiste.

Wonder if they kept any records of landlords/pubs? Might be worth sending an email to them,.

Good luck

Selena

Your poor mother. What a shock to learn that at her age. I think I would have kept quiet

It was my mother that incouraged me in the first place. She never remembered a father, even though her mother told her he was there until he died in 1931. You see her birth cert. has the middle name of King, along with 3 of her siplings, I later found out she was afraid of what I may find out after she died, & more inportant to her what I would think of her mother. Quite honestly, it doesnt matter to me, grandma had her reasons, but I do wish she had revealed my real grandfather, mum so wants to know.

Have you tried to look at the 1930 electoral register to see if there is a King living at your mums address.

Unfortunately your grandmother would be registered as Mrs King or whatever your mums surname was.

Discrimination in those days

Yes Quinsgran- "the good old days" !

I frequently ponder how many of our ancestors are spinning in their graves as we unearth secrets they thought well buried !!

Thanks Quinsgran, but my gran was always Mrs G Roe in the Norwich directory, living at 39 Norfolk Street.
Mum tells me they had family friends on Ashby Street by the name of Kings whom they use to visit. I assume their home was bombed in WW2 & I cannot find where they went to. They are our best bet, but it like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Sad to that their 2 children died to perhaps this had something to do with the break up of their marriage. Irene

Hi Irene,
My cousins father was the eldest child, William James. He remembers his father Charles, he said he spent the last days after WW1 in the norfolk & norwich hospital, being wheeled home at weekends in a bath chair, so they didnt break up. It was a funny situation as the first child born to Mr King was in 1920, 1 yr before Charles died, so Charles must have seen the child, when he went home on visits.

Perhaps the child went for a little holiday staying with relatives when he came out of hospital.

Oh to be around for the 1921 census