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In the meantime I have read "British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany" by Oliver Wilkinson.  In it the author states: "In theory, as soon as a man was captured he was given a postcard to send home which... conveyed his name, number, regiment and nature of wounds (if any)."  How soon any of these cards might reach the next of kin is unclear and notice he writes "in theory".  No one in our family has seen any such card if indeed one was sent by my grandfather.

The book is an interesting read if you are interested in finding out more about how POWs were treated and how they coped with captivity.

So to sum up the state of play at the moment for anyone else who is following this topic.  All the children of John Morton and Sophia were registered with mother's maiden name given as Rolfe.  It therefore appears that the marriage certificate naming her as Sophia Holford is wrong.  If we assume that then the rest of the certificate falls into place; father Robert a cattle dealer, and witness Thomas, who appears to be Sophia's brother (see post by janfurness above).  The family of Robert Rolf (sic) is recorded in the 1841 census with Robert, his wife Ann, and three children, Sophia (21), Thomas (15) and James (six months old).  They lived in the hamlet of Dedworth, less than two miles away from Morton's butcher's shop.  Robert, Ann and Thomas are on the next census record, by then living in Mount Pleasant which seems to identify with Beaumont Cottages, Clewer Fields, Windsor.  That would put them just a couple of hundred yards away from where Sophia lived with John.

Robert Rolfe gives his birthplace as Shalford, Buckinghamshire in 1851, but there does not appear to be any such place.  There is, however, a Shalford in Surrey, not far from Guildford.  Ann, Robert's wife, gives her birthplace as Uxbridge.  Sophia gives her birthplace as Addlestone/Chertsey pretty well consistently apart from the entry in 1911 where it is given as Aylesbury.  The hunt is now on for Sophia's birth record.

I hope you don’t mind my joining this discussion.  I too have been completely puzzled by Sophia Holford.  Like Gordon, I am related to Annie Maria Cox (Morton). 

Just to muddy the waters a little more, I sent for Annie’s birth certificate.  The date of birth is given as 4th November 1848, the father is recorded as John William Morton and the mother’s maiden name is given as Rolfe.  There are clearly inconsistencies here with what else is known about the family.  First, the father’s name.  That this Sophia Morton and daughter Anne (or Annie) is the one we seek seems confirmed as the address given on the birth form is 16 South Place and this is the same address recorded for the family in the 1851 census, so why is John’s middle name given as William when in 1861, the head of the same household is recorded as John T Morton?  Then there is the mother’s maiden name, Rolfe, not Holford.  I really don’t know what to think about this.  I wonder, is John’s middle name given on the marriage certificate?  Is the name Holford clearly written (I would imagine it would be as it surely appears three times)?  Do you think the registrar for the birth has made not just one but two mistakes?  Any ideas please.