Alfred Pope

[osprey]

the parish entry for the 1863 marriage is on Findmypast so you could check the signature on that. Martha J Good is Martha Jemima, so Emma could be a mistranscription.

[Malcolm173]

I've taken the signatures of Alfred Pope from the 1863 parish record and the 1911 census and put them together on the attached.  They're not the same but there are some similarities.  What do you think?

[wilcoxon]

It was 48 years later so he could have changed the style, he is consistent with the  entry of his son.

The marriage you have is a copy so written by a clerk at the time you ordered it.
It doesn`t  seem to be online. I suppose you could contact the Gwent  Records Office and ask if they can get a copy of the original entry. There will be a charge, but you have all the details  so won`t be a long search.
Worth a shot  . 

[wilcoxon]

There are reports of bankruptcy in various papers

Alfred Pope late of Bridgwater draper Dec 31 1869 Exeter
Bankruptcy .—At the Castle of Exeter yesterday , ' the case of Alfred Pope, draper, of Bridgewater, came  before Mr. Registrar Daw. The bankrupt, it appeared, was lodged in Taunton gaol at the suit of  a creditor, and the registrar of the Taunton Court, on visiting the gaol  adjudicated Mr. Pope a bankrupt, and the debts being  above £300 the proceedings were transferred to the Exeter District Court of Bankruptcy. Bankrupt failed to surrender there at the time appointed, and his affairs were transferred to the County Court. A petition to annull  which was supported by Mr Rogers  was  now  presented, and there being no  opposition, the court  annulled the bankruptcy.

Exeter Court of Bankruptcy
Date: Friday,  Jan. 7, 1870 Publication: Exeter and Plymouth Gazette
Re Alfred Pope, late of Bridgewater, draper. Meeting for choice. Bankrupt owes £690, and has no assets, the furniture and stock having been sold under a deed of assignment. No assignee was chosen.
By March 1870 the case was annulled

In April 1870 there was an audit of Alfred Pope of Bridgewater, grocer and a later entry of a bankruptcy engagement. Nothing more found after this for sure. Could he have had decided to try another trade.

I looked for another Alfred Pope in Bridgewater in 1871 but only found the draper.

Could his wife got a bit fed of him ?

[Malcolm173]

Thanks for this.  Yes, he certainly had enough motive to leave that life and his wife would have definitely had more than enough justification to send him on his way!

I've emailed the Gwent office to ask if I can buy a copy of the original 1877 marriage certificate and explained that it needs to have the original signatures.  I've also ordered a copy of Martha Pope's and Albert Whitehouse's marriage certificate to confirm her status at that time.

[softly softly]

Pope
Kate Rudolphina
—
—
1881-85
British Armed Forces And Overseas Deaths And Burials
Bilbao, Spain

A possibility, but I cant read the image or transcript on FindMyPast

John

Had to renew membership with FindMyPast and looked at image for Kate. With such a very unusual name, I wonder that if after her birth (1883) the family travelled abroad for a period of time. This might explain why we cannot find them in the 1891 census. They certainly were not at the 1881/1901 addresses.  Alfred states his occupation as Foreign Traveller (Coals) on the 1901 census.

John

Added 15.18, the 1911 census records that daughter Caroline was a teacher in foreign languages, learnt from being abroad?

[softly softly]

Son Alfred John is in 1911 a Traveller in Coals and is backwards and forwards to Vigo in Spain.

John

[wilcoxon]

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3740598/3740604/117/

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3747362/3747366/53/


Caroline was taught French in school.

[Malcolm173]

Yes, all three children did well, even if we find out that their father had a secret past.

Caroline Pope became a language teacher and taught for about 30 years at Halifax Technical College.  Leonora Pope married Thomas David John in 1910, who was a colliery agent at the time of the 1911 census. 

Alfred John Pope was a successful businessman and became the owner of the Seabank Hydro Hotel in Porthcawl.  There was a bit of a scandal about his marriage.  He was 54 while his wife, Veronica Clara Jones, was 26 at the time of their wedding. She was the daughter of Sir Thomas George Jones and Lady Mary Louisa Jones. An article in the Western Mail and South Western News of 28th July 1934 says that they kept their engagement and marriage secret and only Veronica’s parents attended the wedding, which took place at the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Porthcawl, on 23rd July 1934.

There was another bit of a scandal over AJ's & Veronica's daughter's marriage, which made the front of the Daily Mirror (12 September 1955 and available in FindMyPast).

But the reason I looked at the Alfred Pope records again last week was after watching an episode of "Who do you think you are" in which Warwick Davis found that one of his ancestors had abandoned one family and started another.  The researcher was explaining that it wasn't as rare as you'd think because divorce was only for the rich.....