Hi Margaret Such notices were commonplace It had nothing to do with a divorce, it was purely to offset the liability of debts run up by a woman, whose husband would be liable for them If a bill was presented after the time of publication it could rightly be returned as not the husbands liability Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) On 26/01/2015 09:10, Margaret Harrison via wrote: > I have come across in a newspaper of 1881 a notice "Thomas Foster, farmer > of Tholthorpe, will not be responsible for the debts of his wife, Dorothy, > however caused, after this date". > > The family subsequently broke up. > Was this regarded as a quasi legal document and was the publication of such > a notice usually regarded as a de facto divorce ? > > Was the notice posted because the wife had usually run up debts or because > she had left with another man? Or was the notice put in the papers to > announce that husband and wife had split up ? > > Margaret

My grandfather published a similar notice in 1920. He and grandmother lived separate lives for 29 years until she died. Grandfather got married two years later to a divorcoed woman I think he'd been living with for some time. Lin On 26/01/2015 09:37, Nivard Ovington via wrote: > Hi Margaret > > Such notices were commonplace > > It had nothing to do with a divorce, it was purely to offset the > liability of debts run up by a woman, whose husband would be liable for > them > > If a bill was presented after the time of publication it could rightly > be returned as not the husbands liability > > Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > > On 26/01/2015 09:10, Margaret Harrison via wrote: >> I have come across in a newspaper of 1881 a notice "Thomas Foster, farmer >> of Tholthorpe, will not be responsible for the debts of his wife, Dorothy, >> however caused, after this date". >> >> The family subsequently broke up. >> Was this regarded as a quasi legal document and was the publication of such >> a notice usually regarded as a de facto divorce ? >> >> Was the notice posted because the wife had usually run up debts or because >> she had left with another man? Or was the notice put in the papers to >> announce that husband and wife had split up ? >> >> Margaret > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message