Q about surnames in GRO marriage index

[Merry]

I feel I used to know the answer to this, but have forgotten!

Some women have more than one surname recorded in the GRO marriage indexes, so for the husband's entry it might say he married surname "Smith or Jones". Obviously this is to reflect previous surnames used by the bride, but there are plenty of entries that only show one surname even though the bride has had one or more previous marriages. My Q is, is there any rhyme or reason for the appearance of two surnames in the indexes? My mother-in-law was a divorcee when she married my f-i-l in 1950 and she has two names recorded, but many widows don't seem to have this distinction, so is it divorcees only or is it just random?

The reason I wondered is that I was following a couple who were married and living together in the 1920s but then the husband seemed to leave (e-rolls) and she remained in the same property with the lodger who had been there for some time. After about five years she married the lodger. I'm trying to trace the first husband's death (no sign!) and so wondered if the wife's remarriage was as a result of being a widow or a divorcee. There is only one surname recorded for her second marriage in the index , so I wondered if this could point to her being a widow, but I've a feeling this isn't a reliable research method!! lol

Any thoughts?

[Merry]

Turns out the lady was a widow when she remarried, but I'm still interested in others opinions on this issue.

[Durham Lady]

Well I've learnt something today Merry. I never knew the marriage could be recorded twice. Just checked for one of my daughters and her second marriage is recorded in her maiden surname and previous married surname. Second marriage was in 1998.
Just edited to say, daughter was divorced not widowed.

[Olde Crone]

It's my feeling - but it's only a feeling, lol - that it should be indexed twice if she was a widow because she would presumably be still using her married name. If she was divorced, maybe just indexed once without any cross reference to her previous married name on the grounds that legally a divorce wipes out a marriage.

As I said, just a feeling!

OC

[kiterunner]

It depends on the date but I don't know off the top of my head when they started putting the other surname(s) in.

[Merry]

I wondered if it was anything to do with the way the woman's name is recorded in the "Name and Surname" field on the cert? Most widows would just have their forename and the surname of their last husband in that box. However, for my mother-in-law it says "Eileen Montgomery formerly Hamilton" in that box. (Her condition states "The divorced wife of Robert Andrew Montgomery"). So is it to do with what is written in box 2 that determines what is in the index (after a certain date perhaps), rather than comparing a single surname in box 2 with the surname of the bride's father in box 7 and indexing using both of those surnames?

[Olde Crone]

Yes, probably. When civil registration began, there was no thought given to a marriage ending in divorce as that was such a rare thing.

OC