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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Sussex Lookup Requests => Sussex => England => Sussex Completed Lookup Requests => Topic started by: kizmiaz on Saturday 13 August 05 20:53 BST (UK)
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Hello
I have just been doing some more research into weddings at St Nicholas in Brighton, and something caught my eye which is a bit weird.
I have two weddings during the same year in totally unconnected (at that time) branches of my tree, but at both weddings there is a Thomas Pocock appearing as a witness. One wedding was in May 1826 and the other in November 1826.
It could just be a concidence of name (IGI has at least 5 of them as adults in Brighton at the time), or a massive coincidence that two parts of my family which would not come together for another 120 years should have the same friend, but I was wondering if this Thomas Pocock may have been someone who was a paid witness. Did churches have people who would be on hand for such occasions? And has anyone else got a marriage with this chap witnessing at roughly the same time?
The only thing that even got me thinking about this was that I have just uncovered yet another wedding on another side of the family, five years later which had a John Pocock as a witness, although this may not be too difficult to explain, as the offspring from one of the weddings above eventually married the offspring of this union, so the two families may have know each other.
Glen
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It could be that he was the verger or another church official. Often you see the same name occurring over and over again when looking at the parish registers.
Andrea
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hi Glen
It was not unusual for a Church Official to witness a marriage, and very often they signed their names on official documents in advance - remember it was an unpaid job at that time.
Very often when they visited the church on business, why not sign as many documents as possible.
I am afraid it was very common
Chris in 1066
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Hi I have been looking for Pococks in Brighton Havnt been on roots for a while, do you want to contact me direct to see if there is a link its (*)
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Hi,
I am interested in Pocock's in Ditchling and Horsham in particular Benjamin Pocock of Ditchling who married Sarah Dinnage in 1816 at Horsham.
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Hi,
I have Goble burials etc at St. Nicholas where were you looking at records?
Many thanks
Brigcs
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Thomas Pocock was the Parish Clerk during that period. As others have suggested, he frequently 'witnessed' marriages, often several on the same day. It was common practice.