Mrs. Joyce Butler asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will initiate new discussions in the United Nations to change the terms of the agreement which prevents wives from using joint passports when travelling alone, considering the recent trend towards greater independence of married women. UK Joint Passports Wives

Mr. Anthony Royle No, Sir. Such a passport is issued to the husband, and, although the wife’s particulars are included as a matter of convenience for family travel, she is not the joint holder. A married woman has always been able to have her own passport, to which her children under 16 can be added.

Mrs. Butler Does the Minister understand how much resentment is caused by this fuddy-duddy discrimination in these liberated days? Couldn’t he look at this matter again to see whether more equal rights can be granted to holders of joint passports? What is the position of a married woman travelling on a joint passport if her husband dies while both are abroad together? What protection does she have? UK Joint Passports Wives 

Mr. Boyle I should like notice of the second part of the hon. Lady’s question. I will let her know the answer. On the first part of the question, we are tied by our international agreements on this matter. What we do is entirely in accordance with the agreement reached at the 1926 passport conference, and that agreement was reviewed at the 1963 United Nations conference and was not altered.

Dame Irene Ward All these soft-soapy answers are no good to the women of this country, who feel very strongly on the matter. If the international agreements tie us to all sorts of things that we do not want to be tied to, could we not take a different line and get them altered? UK Joint Passports Wives

Mr. Royle I always love giving my hon. Friend soft answers; I hope that I am not giving her soapy answers. My hon. Friend must realize that we are tied by international agreements. But no doubt her words will have been read, and I am grateful to her for letting her views be known to the House.

London, 1971
Love also the art of wording…

Btw…
The British Passports Act of 1953 marked a significant change, granting women the ability to hold their own passports. E.g. in Switzerland, only since 1975. USA, since 1920!

Update: 5 Nov 2023

In response to this post on joint UK passports and the role of a wife traveling on her husband’s passport, here are five key points from my fellow collector and former immigration officer Andy on historical passport rules and changes:

1. Traditionally, a British passport with a wife’s details could not be used by the wife when travelling alone, and the assumption was that the “holder” would be the husband.

2. In April 1976, there was a shift towards gender-neutral language in passports, allowing the “holder” to be either the husband or the wife.

3. The complete transition to more egalitarian language occurred in March 1979, where the passport stated that it could be used by the “holder” but not the “spouse” when traveling alone.

4. Interestingly, a March 1979 passport showed the wife as the “bearer” and her husband as the accompanying “spouse,” with the wife’s picture placed above her husband’s on the photograph page.

5. Passport stamp 1983 marked “H. only” likely refer to the “Holder only” rather than “Husband only,” indicating a change in passport usage over the years, reflecting evolving social norms and practices.

 

Spelling Error UK Joint Passports Wives

Furthermore, I have recently discovered a spelling mistake in some of my 1976 passports issued by the Passport Office. It appears that the word “épouse” has a double’s,’ which seems to be an error rather than a forgery. This error likely persisted for some time before being corrected. While this might make these passports valuable as collectibles, it’s doubtful that many people, besides myself, find this detail noteworthy. Surprisingly, I worked as an Immigration Officer in 1976 and never noticed this mistake until now.

Andy, thank you kindly for this valuable insight into UK passport history and sharing the samples from your fine collection.

 

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