Mary Wade Family

Divorce Court

Darlington Point Grazier

Obtains Decree
(From Our Special Representative)

Married at the age of 53 to a girl of 20, George Britt, a grazier, of Darlington point, lived to regret it. On Friday he petitioned the judge in Divorce, Mr. Justice Boyce, in Sydney for a dissolution of his marriage with Maureen Iris Britt, formerly Lane, on the ground of her adultery with a man unknown.

Britt told the Judge that he was married in 1931 at Griffith. There were two children of the marriage, Georgina, aged four, and Alwyn, aged two. Both were with the mother. Petitioner said that in 1934 a deed of separation was drawn up and signed by himself and his wife and they went their separate ways. He had not lived with her since. His wife took all the furniture, he said.

The Judge: So you were 53 when you married this girl, and she was a domestic servant of 20? Britt: Yes, Your Honor. The evidence against the wife was that she had had a child which was born on December 13, 1935, and which was not the petitioner's. A certificate of registration of the child's birth was produced.

The Judge: The fact that the child was born and that it is not the petitioner's is proof of the adultery. He then pronounced a decree nisi returnable in six months. By consent custody of the two children was given to the wife, the petitioner making no application for access to them. He was also ordered to pay the costs of the divorce.

Narandera Argus and Riverina Advertiser (New South Wales : 1893 - 1953).