Same couple married twice in different parishes???

[Gardener]

Just to chip in ... there is a death registered for Clarissa Elizabeth Parkinson 1852 in Newington district - which is where Robert and Clarissa are in 1851 isn't it? So if that is the same person then I think the marriages are thesame couple. But the signatures will be interesting - good thing they could sign!

[JustinL]

Here's a fairly faint copy of the other wedding in St. katherine Coleman.

I can scarcely read the signatures, I'll shall try and obtain a better one.

[dawnsh]

Having looked at the signatures, I'd say it was the same groom, he signs both times as 'Robt' and in the surname the 'P' and the last 'n' which has a bit of a flick up at the end, are the same.

Looks like a different set of witnesses though.

Thanks for sharing this with us, still can't explain the double marriage though.

Dawn

[Jebber]

Is it possible the groom was in the army? If he was, and had married without the consent of his commanding officer, it was not unusual for there to be a second marriage after consent was granted, to enable the wife to be included on the army roll.

Duplicate marriages are not as uncommon as one may imagine, there has been a series of items in The Family Tree Magazine over the last few months, where a lot of these so called duplicate marriages have been found.

Jebber

[JustinL]

I think I can also make out the little flurish on the k in Parkinson.

It still strikes me as odd that Clarissa left out her middle name, and that both were living in a different parish.

Jebber - it's very encouraging to hear that duplicate marriages were not uncommon. I had ceetainly never heard of the pratice. However, Robert Parkinson was a tea dealer and grocer.

I hope that a better copy of the later marriage will clich the matter.

Thanks for your interest.

Justin

[Josephine]

It's odd that they were married first by licence and, one month later, by banns.

Why would they need a licence and then have banns read three Sundays in a row?

What does "by licence of the Archbishop of Canterbury" signify?  It's not the same as (and is too early for) a civil licence.

Regards,
Josephine

[jinks]

I dont know if this is the reason for the duplicate entry, but
I have found with some of mine that they appear to be married
twice but in fact it is the later entry, and the duplication is due to
the banns being read in another parish.

Also another reason is some churches become amalgamated and
the larger church takes on the records of the other (this is usually on
the same day though).
 
Another reason for a duplicate  marriage is to do with Catholics
marrying in the Catholic Church AND then the parish church.

Jinks

[JustinL]

Hello Josephine,

This link at least answers the easy question about the licence:

http://www.history.ac.uk/gh/marrlic.htm

I completely agree with your point about licence and banns. If they genuinely married twice, then somehow the first marriage must have been declared invalid.

Something very strange was going on here.

[Josephine]

Thank you, JustinL, that is very interesting!

I hadn't known that a couple could get a licence prior to civil registration. 

I hope you can solve this mystery.

Regards,
Josephine