by Kevin » Mon Jan 30, 2023 2:24 pm
Thanks for your reply. Yes, Mary Ann Bounden was the mother of Mary Jane. The family is to be seen in the 1871 Census but I’ve yet to see them on the 1881 so can’t yet be sure of when John died. But I’ve noted before that sometimes a deceased parent is shown as deceased, sometimes just the name is used even if he/she had died, so I don’t attach much significance to that.
The odd thing to me is that the first wedding was Registered, and therefore had full validity. Yet on the second occasion they are still Batchelor and Spinster. Mary Jane is shown as living in Batter Street when the first wedding took place; Batter Street is and was in Plymouth (which is where the wedding took place). By the time of the second marriage they are both living in Stonehouse, which was then (and is now) where the Royal Marines were based. So I’m guessing they were then co-habiting.
But it seems to me that if the first marriage was valid, as it would appear to have been, the RM would have no business not recognising it and requiring a second. Does that make sense?
But thanks very much again for your reply.