An envelop arrives from The National Archives

I have been eagerly watching my postbox for the last few weeks, waiting for this envelop from The National Archives in the United Kingdom.

The postal slip arrived yesterday and I dropped everything to fetch my letter parcel.

The envelop contains all the documents relating to the divorce of my great-grandparents, William and Kathleen Argyle, my maternal grandmother, Nellie's, parents.

I was immediately struck by this stamp, "CLOSED UNTIL 2004", these documents were sealed for 100 years!

As I hoped, reading the petitions and the Court Minutes has shed more light on this part of my family history.


Nan, or Nellie Winifred Argyle, grew up in Pretoria with her father William and stepmother Fanny and her 3 half-sisters, Edith, Elsie and Kathleen. It was only after I met Mom's cousin Bert Cornel, Kathleen's son, that I learnt that my Nan and her father had come to South Africa from the Isle of Wight and that very little was known about her mother. This got me doing the research and discovering the divorce of her parents online. I then paid the National Archives to have these document photocopied.

The timeline is shown on this cover page:

• Petition Filed: 12 December 1902
• Setting Down Cause: 16 March 1903
• Decree Nisi: 26 May 1903
• Final Decree: 7th December 1903

The first document confirms their civil marriage on the 25th September 1897 at a Register Office on the Isle of Wight, William was 28 and Kathleen 23 years old. The marriage was witnessed by by Frank and Annie Guster, Kathleen's parents. I notice William was living at Church Place, Freshwater and this is where they start their married life. William gives his 'Rank or Profession' as Carpenter and it is blank for Kathleen.

The certified copy of the Marriage of William Argyle to Kathleen Guster in 1897, provided to support the divorce process.

Well lets dip into the documents and recreate their story.