Carol I tried Ancestry their electoral rolls and the divorce records end in the 1960s. Find My past do have an index on line (www.findmypast.co.uk) which has a Pamela MERCHANT/Roger MERCHANT divorce in 1882. I am not a member so you would need to buy credits to check the details. I looked at the Family trees on line (not always reliable but sometimes give a good lead!) and came up with one entry for Pamela. They have no details on her marriage but list her with two children Fiona and Richard NICHOLSON. By this time you get the mother's name on the birth index so I checked the birth records on Ancestry and found Pamela Fiona NICHOLSON born 1982 registered at York April to Jun quarter 1982 mother's name HALLERON, and Richard Andrew NICHOLSON born 1987 also registered York mother's name HALLERON. When I looked to see if there were any MERCHANT/HALLERON births it came up with: Pamela Fiona MERCHANT born 1982 registered at York April to Jun quarter 1982 - both of her entries are on the same certificate reference. You would have to buy it to find out but if were you I would email York Registrar (registrar@york.gov.uk) quoting their reference number, YK/B25A/16 to check if the information is all on one certificate and if they can tell you why. Please note that this reference is the local office one - you can order certificates through them (ask when you email) but if you want to order from the GRO you need certificate number 2 2655 for 1982 quarter April to June. So clearly at this point Pamela was still married to Roger MERCHANT but living with Kenneth NICHOLSON. By the time Richard junior was born she was no longer living as MERCHANT so the name change by deed poll must have taken place between 1982 and 1987. I would take the birth of Pamela Fiona as the catalyst for this. The 1976 Legitimacy Act meant that children born before marriage could be legitimised if the parents subsequently married. I have posted this to Yorksgen to let other folk know that you have at least a partial answer to your question. Wendy PS the Pamela Fiona and Richard Andrew deaths are not on freebmd but are on www.yorkshirebmd.org.uk

Hi Wendy In reply only to the mention of the divorce index on findmypast , this is a *very* misleading database A search for the names you mention do indeed get a hit for 1882 but have no connection to a Pamela or a Roger From the index it states :- Divorces & matrimonial causes for 1882 1882 8258 NOEL v N - j? merchant So where they get the Roger or Pamela from is anyones guess ============================ The National Archives Catalogue can be searched for divorces under J77 where is found the following which is clearly the same case Item reference J 77/280/8258 Divorce Court File: 8258. Appellant: William Frederick Noel Noel. Respondent: Josphine Annie Watts Noel. Co-respondent: Frederick Merchant. ... Jump to : Summary Back to search results Browse from here Ordering and viewing options Context J Records of the Supreme Court of Judicature and related courts top of page Division within J Records of the Family Division and predecessors top of page J 77 Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, later Supreme Court of Judicature: Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Files top of page top of page J 77/280 Top of page Record Summary Scope and content Divorce Court File: 8258. Appellant: William Frederick Noel Noel. Respondent: Josphine Annie Watts Noel. Co-respondent: Frederick Merchant. Type: Husband's petition for divorce [hd]. Covering dates 1880 Held by The National Archives, Kew Legal status Public Record(s) Language English =========================== I noticed this yesterday when searching for someone who gave a hit in virtually every year, yet does not appear in any of them at all Not for the first time they appear to have a glitch in their software Hopefully this may save the OP the cost of checking it out Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) On 22/09/2012 08:24, Wendy King wrote: > Carol > > I tried Ancestry their electoral rolls and the divorce records end in the > 1960s. > > Find My past do have an index on line (www.findmypast.co.uk) which has a > Pamela MERCHANT/Roger MERCHANT divorce in 1882. I am not a member so you > would need to buy credits to check the details. >

Today I uploaded several transcribed scans of the Overseers of the Poor Account Book, 1801-1829, for the parish of Ellerton in the East Riding. As there has not been many Overseers of the Poor account books published, I thought I would draw the attention of listers to this invaluable resource (where they survive). The detail is amazing, and can sometimes throw up births that are not in the parish registers, the fact that many widows in a parish earned extra money by nursing the sick in the parish, the details of the hunt for deliquent fathers, and much more besides. The Poor Rate Assessment (often called in the records as the 'sess') was a levy on every householder in the parish, so can form yearly mini censuses of heads of households in the years preceding 1841. Why not take a look at what they can contain, then see if any survive for parishes you are interested in. http://www.ellerton.info/people/church-records/overseers-accounts.html Good luck Colin