Help with finding a marriage please

[LizzieL]

I've found Herbert Croft aged 30 and Elizabeth Norris aged 27 on the 1911 census.

On BMD site is the marriage of Herbert Croft and Elizabeth Norris in North Bierley in 1930.
A child with the surname Croft and mothers maiden name Norris was born in North Bierley in M1931 -
by this time if it's the same Elizabeth Norris would have been 46/47 years old.

Isn't that a re-registration of the 1915 birth?

[jmf2106]

Hi, yes it's a re-registration. It looks like they re-registered my grandfather's birth after they got married in 1930. I also have my grandfather's original birth certificate from 1915.

[LizzieL]

If they waited until  1930  to get married, then it is likely the first wife died very shortly before.

[jmf2106]

Hi Lizzie, yes I think the same! Maybe my grandfather didn't know they weren't married when he was born. Otherwise why would they bother re-registering his birth?

[chris_49]

Usually when you can't find a marriage you may have to consider that there may not have been one - one party already married is the usual case (bigamy a crime, cohabitation not). However in this case it's the first marriage that's missing and caused a long postponement of the 2nd.

I suspect the first marriage was abroad, always a possibility for servicemen. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I found out that one such relative married in 1919 in Russia (now Georgia)  - and my step-granddad married first at the Tientsin Consulate in China.

[jmf2106]

Hi Chris, I wondered whether he had got married abroad, either in South Africa or India.  If that was the case though, do you think he would be in touch with his spouse when he returned to England and then to be informed when she died approximately 20 years later?  I do think it's a strong possibility they waited until the first wife died and got married soon after but if that was the case and if the first wife lived abroad, Herbert would have had to be in contact with her over a long period of time.  I suppose nothing's impossible! 

[Sloe Gin]

It's quite possible that he married abroad, and it's also possible that his bride was British.  There were lots of expat families, particularly in India.  I have relatives who were born or married in India while their fathers were serving soldiers there around this time.  So don't assume that the wife would have remained abroad - she could have returned to the UK with or without him. 

[jmf2106]

Thanks, that's a good point. I've just looked up all women called Croft on Free BMD who died in the two years before Herbert married Elizabeth. I've cross referenced these names with marriages to a Herbert Croft from 1905 to 1908 and there's nothing. It's looking more and more like a marriage abroad. I wouldn't even know where to start with that one! 

[chris_49]

Hi Chris, I wondered whether he had got married abroad, either in South Africa or India.  If that was the case though, do you think he would be in touch with his spouse when he returned to England and then to be informed when she died approximately 20 years later?  I do think it's a strong possibility they waited until the first wife died and got married soon after but if that was the case and if the first wife lived abroad, Herbert would have had to be in contact with her over a long period of time.  I suppose nothing's impossible!

If he left his first wife behind - it's very possible - then he may not have been in contact. Perhaps he thought - 20 years is long enough. let's assume she's dead?