*COMPLETED* Register Office Southampton - HOWARD - TILLEY Marriage

[zorba]

I have a copy of the certificate for the marriage of William Howard to Jane Tilley in the Register Office at Southampton on 10 May 1873. Jane claimed to be 21 but was in fact nearer to 18 and already 7 months pregnant. Her husband William Howard is recorded as a labourer aged 33. The witnesses were both neighbours of the place where they both lived at 12 West Street, Southampton.
The problem is that William apparently died shortly hereafter, so that by 22 September 1874 Jane was marrying Henry Baker in Salisbury - where they both originated. I know that this is not a case of mistaken identify since her daughter Sarah Jane, born on 21 June 1873, was subsequently known by the surname "Howard Baker" until her own marriage.
I can find no other definitive trace of William Howard or his death, partly because the name is so common that there are too many possibilities to choose from. I'm wondering whether the original Register Office entry has anything in the margin or elsewhere to throw any further light on any of the above.
Would be very grateful if someone could do the lookup for me or make other suggestions for how I locate William and/or his death...

Moderator comment: very similar post here.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,577092.0.html

[stanmapstone]

What you have is a certified copy of the original certificate, there will no no more information on the one held by the register office. If the certificate is from the GRO then it is "Certified to be a true copy of an entry in the certified copy of a register of Marriages in the Registration District of ......."
If you get it from the local Register Office then it says "Certified to be a true copy of an entry in a register in my custody."
The public are not allowed to see the certificates in a local Register Office. Information can only be released in the form of certificates issued by the registrars.

Stan

[zorba]

Thanks Stan - I'd never been quite sure precisely what constituted original documents in this context. What I actually have is effectively photocopy of the certificate from the GRO not one of the old type written transcripts so I guess there's nothing further to be gained at the GRO.
But what exactly would the Local Register Office hold - would there have been two hand written original documents created on the day of the marriage - or is the GRO document a hand written copy of the Registry Office original or what?
I guess the same question would arise for civil registration documents for church weddings; are the registration of marriage documents held at the GRO and local country record office both hand written originals, where each was signed by all the parties?

Regards,
Richard

[stanmapstone]

The GRO has no access to original documents. What they have are the quarterly returns, which are copies sent in by the the Superintendent Registrar of each district. The local register office holds the original registers for register office marriages, and church marriages. Some register offices have the facility to supply photocopies of the original register, with the original handwriting. When a marriage his held in a church there are three registers, two are signed by the participants, and the third one is written out by the minister and the certificate detached and given to the couple. When full one register is given to the Registrar and one is either held at the church, or in the Diocesan Archives, which is usually the local Record Office.

Stan

[zorba]

Stan,

Thanks for clearing up my confusion so precisely - with your comprehensive answer.

I guess it's theoretically possible then that if Southampton is one of those archives that does provide photocopies of the actual original registers, rather than creating a written copy, then there could be something there that did not get transcribed in the quarterly returns.

But I'm not sure that it is worth a tenner to find out!

Regards,     Richard