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Today, bigamy is one of the rarest of crimes, with only a handful of prosecutions each year, but over the course of the nineteenth century over 6,500 men and women stood trial for bigamy.
Drawing on cases from the Old Bailey, local assizes, and committal hearings before magistrates, this talk provides new research findings on the nature and extent of bigamy and remarriage in this period to help family historians interpret their ancestors’ lives.
It explains when a remarriage constituted a crime and where bigamy cases were tried. It also highlights some of the scandalous cases that hit the headlines.
October 2024
Rebecca Probert is Professor of Law at the University of Exeter. Her research focuses on the law and history of marriage, bigamy, divorce and cohabitation and she is the author of numerous articles and books, including Marriage Law for Genealogists (2012) and Divorced, Bigamist, Bereaved? (2015). She has appeared numerous times on TV and radio, including Harlots, Heroines and Housewives, A House Through Time and Who Do You Think You Are? Her latest books are Double Trouble: Bigamy and the Law in England and Wales, 1604-2024 (2026) and Double Lives: Stories of Bigamy in England and Wales, 1604-2024 (2026).
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