“Bigamy” means to enter another marriage when you are still legally married to another person. If you’re finding you have hit a brick wall or struggling to find someone, this could be the reason why you are struggling.
Bigamy was probably more popular than we realise and probably one of those subjects that was never discussed or found out. Most bigamists never saw the inside of a courtroom because most cases were never brought to court or made aware of. The reason being was because most prosecutions were normally initiated by the victims rather than the state. In most cases the victims never had the money to take it further and as neither was involved there was little reason to go to the trouble and expense of prosecution. Between the years 1714- 1799 out of 56,375 prisoners only 263 people were charged with bigamy and as the decades went on this decreased and only a few were recognised.
Divorce wasn’t like it is today where both the man and woman could afford to separate and survive on their own. In the days of our ancestors the only income was usually the man and women depended on them and had no means of her own to survive. In many cases if one partner was left a victim and had no income they would end up with the children in the workhouse.
