length of time between death of husband and remarriage, early 18th century

[SantaT]

 I have a woman named Lydia Harvey, widow, of St. Margaret Westminster, who married a William Bryan on June 17, 1714.   In looking for who she might be the widow of,  one real possibility is a William HARvey, also of St. Margaret Westminster.   Findmypast.uk shows an entry in the parish registers of St. Margaret Westminster for the burial of William Harvey, on May 19th, 1714.

Is it at all likely, given the time and place, that Lydia Harvey would have remarried less than a month after her husband's death?    Marriage allegation to William Bryan says she is 40, but she may have been a few years older.

Santa T.

[ladybird]

Entirely possible 
I have one bloke who married another lady 2 weeks after his 1st wife's death...the cad!!!! 

[Huckleberry]

Banns had to be read for three Sundays in the prior three month period to the marriage  - So the couple would have had to have applied for a licence.

[SantaT]

In fact, they did apply for a license, and were married the same day the license was granted. 

[pinefamily]

Were there young children involved? That often necessitated remarriage.

[SantaT]

Not that i know of.  I have been very interested in women named "Lydia Harvey" because it is not all that common a name and was used a couple of times in naming descendants of a Harvey ancestor.  So I was trying to see if there was a connection (long-standing brick wall, am following any small lead now).  But I haven't seen any baptisms for  children of William and Lydia Harvey.   

[carol8353]

Were there young children involved? That often necessitated remarriage.

I was going to ask that too 

If the wife had been ill and the 2nd wife a family friend who helped out with her care,they may have become very close before the first wife died.

Carol

[bykerlads]

I have ancestors who wed very soon after the death of a spouse- a matter of a few weeks only- in each case both the widower and the widow he married lived in the same neighbourhood and each had families of small children.
I feel the marriage was one of mutual  convenience- both parties needing urgently the services of a spouse. The man needed someone to keep house and tend his children, the lady needed food and shelter for herself and her off-spring.
I've deduced that this practice of speedy weddings after a bereavement was common practice and entirely acceptable and respectable.
In more recent times, I remember a family we knew as children in the 1960's, where the 2 parents each had been left with 3 children when their spouses ran away with each other. The abandoned man and woman agreed to, as they put it, "team up" and get wed, to provide a stable and respectable home for the 6 children. They made a success of a bad situation.

[SantaT]

I appreciate these replies.  They prompted me to look again for children born to William and Lydia Harvey, and in fact, Findmypast.uk's Westminster collection shows that two daughters of this couple were baptized at St. Margaret's, Westminster (the groom's home parish).   They would have been 5 and 7 when William Harvey died.   So maybe that is indeed the answer.

Santa T.