Who married C.S. Lewis in a civil ceremony in 1956?

Joy Davidman married C.S. Lewis in a civil ceremony in 1956.

Davidman was an American-born writer and poet who had moved to England. She and Lewis developed a close friendship through correspondence and personal meetings. They were married in a civil ceremony at the Oxford Register Office on 23 April 1956.

The marriage was initially arranged to help Davidman secure the right to remain in the United Kingdom. Lewis later came to understand the relationship as a genuine marriage, and the couple had a church wedding in 1957, conducted by his friend Peter Bide.

Their married life was brief because Davidman was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1960. Lewis later wrote A Grief Observed, an intensely personal book about grief and faith, though it was published under the name N.W. Clerk rather than his own.