Mary Aicken married John Tharp Thompson in 1817

[paddy418]

Married by licence on 22 December 1817 at St Dunstan Stepney; John Tharp Thompson bachelor of this parish & Mary Aicken spinster of Lewisham, Kent.  The year is definitely 1817, yet there was an earlier baptism for their son.  Baptized 8 March 1815 at Shoreditch St Leonard, Charles John Thompson, son of John Tharp Thompson & Mary Aickin Thompson, gent of Trafalgar St City Road. Born 1 October 1814.
I am reasonably sure of the ancestors of John Tharp Thompson, but have no further information on Mary Aicken.
Baptized 8 April 1774 at St Andrew Holborn, John Tharp son of Thomas & Charlotte Thompson, Princes Street.
A John Tharp Thompson was on the Navy List for 1806 as a Lieutenant but was not listed in William O'Byrne's massive biographies of naval officers in 1846. 
I have not found any UK deaths, burials or probate records for this family.  Perhaps they went abroad.
Can anyone add to these details?

[dawnsh]

Hi Paddy

John Tharp Thompson declared himself to be a 43 yr old bachelor at the time of the marriage to Mary after the birth of a child a couple of years earlier.

Do you have evidence of a previous marriage which might have prevented him from marrying Mary in a more timely fashion?

Dawn

[paddy418]

If there was a previous marriage, then I have failed to find it so far on Ancestry, Family Search, FindMyPast or The Genealogist.  But I've only searched using the middle name of Tharp, and I have no idea where that came from.

[crimea1854]

Hi

I suspect you may well be aware of this, but just in case : http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C10275503 . At the end of the Napoleonic Wars the Admiralty realised that it had no records of service for its officers so undertook a number of surveys. Not every officer replied, but John Tharp Thompson was one who did. Also in Bruno Pappalardo's index of Lieutenants' Passing Certificates is an entry for a John Sharp Thompson. This could be a trancription error; the references are ADM 107/26 pages 188-190 and ADM 6/99 page 434. With this certificate is deposited birth information, so it might be worth at least getting a quote from the National Archives for a copy.

Martin

[paddy418]

I have now obtained from National Archives the naval service records for Lt John Tharp Thompson who began his service under Captain William Bligh on 26 May 1795 and seems to have ended his time on 1 May 1814 on a passage to Waterford Ireland under Captain McGuire.  He was in London for his marriage to Mary Aiken on 22 December 1817 at St Dunstan Stepney.  At the top of his naval record is noted "died June 1825", but so far I have not found any record to confirm this.  No will has been found at PCC.