* 1939 census query

[Wilfreda99]

Can anyone tell me what letters and numbers on the attached snippet mean re Mary M Billyeald? I know she married A Waddington in 1941 and her name on her death certificate in 1949 was Mary Frampton, and she was described (in the column 'rank or profession' as 'formerly the wife of A, Waddingham from whom she obtained a divorce'. Death was registered by B. Frampton though according to the voter list of 1947 she was living with Jack Frampton, so I don't know if they are the same or different Framptons.
I cannot find her marriage certificate to Mr Frampton, Alec Waddington didn't die until the 1970's or 80's. I am wondering if the numbers 4.5.45 are the date of her divorce and it was published perhaps in the London Gazette?
Mary died from an embolism caused by a thrombosis and I think my mother told me that this was caused by her pregnancy and that her parents blamed her husband, whom they disliked. This seemed rather harsh to me, but could be understandable if there had been some sort of family disgrace (although my father didn't seem to know she wasn't 'with' Mr Waddington when she died).
This is not a close relative so it doesn't really matter, but it is just intriguing.
Cheers,
Chris

[LornaCraig]

I suspect that she never married Mr Frampton, which is why you can't find that marriage. The entry in the National Probate Calendar gives an alternative name as Waddington, but if she'd been married to Frampton I think it would only have given the Frampton name.

Also, probate was granted to Susanna Billyeald (her mother?), not to Mr Frampton.

Frampton probate entry.JPG (40.18 KiB) Viewed 5596 times

You are probably right about the notes referring to an entry in the London Gazette.

[AdrianBruce]

It's a name change - see https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/iss ... /page/2375 The reason, I leave up to you!

(I did start pondering and wondering, then, well d'uh, I had the "bright idea" of looking at the London Gazette referred to - via a search, not a browse. Sometimes the obvious things are the best!)

[LornaCraig]

Adrian just beat me to it! Here it is:

name change.JPG (29.62 KiB) Viewed 5590 times

[AdrianBruce]

Actually, Lorna, your image and my link are 2 different notices on the same topic, some months apart. Never occurred to me that there might be more than one.

[LornaCraig]

Ah, that makes sense. Yours is the one dated 4 May. I wondered why the one I found referred to her as Frampton née Billyeald, without explaining why she had ever been known as Waddington! I thought it ought to say Waddington née Billyeald, which of course yours does.

[tatewise]

It seems likely the name change was to give a veneer of respectability to her living with Mr Frampton.

The well known poet/writer Robert Graves, lived in our village during WWII, but had not been divorced from his first wife, and lived with a married woman named Beryl who changed her surname to Graves. He said she was his courtesy wife. Both before and after the war he lived in La Casa de Robert Graves, Deià, Majorca where he had many 'affairs' and eventually married Beryl when his first wife Nancy Nicholson agreed a divorce. There is much more online.

[Wilfreda99]

Thank you very much all of you, I should have thought to look at the probate index, but I hadn't realised that London Gazette is available - another thing to add to my favourites list.

Thinking back to my father's apparent lack of knowledge of the change of partner, in May 1945 he had just arrived home after 4.5 years in India so he probably had other things on his mind than catching up with his relatives - just in time to have a few days leave in Margate which coincided with VE day on 9th May. Mother probably didn't know either since she lived in north London and they lived in Richmond and it wouldn't have been the kind of information that was sprayed out to everyone. (Mary was Dad's cousin).

I met Mary's mother, Susanna, once in the 1950s, still living in the same house in Richmond. The only things I remember are that the room was very dark, possibly with an aspidistra in the corner, and that she wanted to give my sister and me a present. She found a doll for my sister, I think she must have won it in a raffle or something, but she couldn't find anything suitable for me, age about 9. So what did she dig out for me - a pink and white tea cosy that she had knitted! It wasn't even big enough to wear as a hat. Hopefully I had been brought up well enough to thank her but it obviously made its mark on me. I had it for years.