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My father Alan Arthur Dear married my mother in Jaffa in 1946. Her name was Ruth Schonberg. I have however found 2 records of marriage for him in Jaffa in 1946. One to Ruth Schonberg and one to Ruth Sborowitzova. How can I find out why this should be?
I found both entries on Findmypast. They just showed a marriage record to Alan Arthur Dear in Jaffa 1946. I have no knowledge of my mother having been married before but this could well be an explanation. I can't find any info on Sborowitzova
I presume when you say "2 records of marriage" you mean two entries in a marriage index; there is almost certainly only one record, and purchasing it (which can be done directly through the GRO; going through third parties only adds to the cost) would tell you exactly what the situation was.
The way that bmd records, including consular registrations, were indexed only allows for a single surname to be listed per 'entry'. So if a person is described as having/using more than one surname, there is no way to reflect than in the index except repeating the index entry multiple times, one for each name.
I'm also presuming the two entries have the same reference (volume/page) numbers, if they do not then something more out of the ordinary is going on.
Why is she listed twice, then?
It is unlikely in my opinion that it was because married before and widowed. Previous married names may be listed on the certificate, but widows are normally only indexed under their 'current' name at marriage.
In cases like this, there are two main potential reasons: one, that she was divorced, as divorcees usually appear under both married and maiden names on the index. Two, and probably the most likely in this case, that she was simply known by both names, Sborowitzova perhaps being her family's original name and Schonberg a Germanised variant, for example.
It may be worth mentioning that whether a widow remarrying is indexed under both her maiden name and her current (pre 2nd marriage) name depends on the custom and practice of the people compiling the index. It may well be the case that the standard GRO index for England and Wales indexes only once (I've never checked!) but I know that my 4G-GM is indexed twice on Staffordshire BMD when she remarried as a widow. But this is a locally compiled index, not the GRO one.
I have always felt that Consular BMD records are a law unto themselves so their indexing practice might be different.
The only way to find out is to send for the certificate but send for the one that has two names in the index. You may need to read up carefully how to do this - my guess would be that you go through the GRO ordering screens but don't use the normal option.
Somehow you need to specify that you need the Consular marriage not the Army marriage.
