William Hunt and marriages to Alice Taylor and Sarah Taylor - a trial?

[Meggiejayne]

Good evening

So in doing some research today I came across a little puzzle that got me digging further.

My 2x great aunt Sarah married a William Hunt as did her sister Alice. I thought I had made a mistake in doing the tree.

However looking at sources I discovered that Alice Taylor, born 1842 to Tuckney Taylor and Rebecca Watson, married William Hunt in Whaplode in 1860.

A son is born in 1Q 1861, William Benjamin Hunt MMN Taylor. In the same quarter there is a death for 19 year old Alice Hunt.

In the 4th quarter there is a marriage for a William Hunt and a Sarah Taylor in Whaplode. Subsequent Census returns match this Sarah to Sarah Taylor, born 1840 to Tuckney and Rebecca.

I know that it was illegal to marry your deceased wife's sister since my great-grandfather also married his sister in law following his 1st wife's death.

However what I'm trying to find out is whether William was prosecuted for this. I have come across a very large number of newspaper articles on FindMyPast that share a series of letters between William, the clerk of the Registrar General and John Fairfax Franklin, the vicar of Whaplode . These letters discuss the legalities of the so-called marriage with the registrar general stating that he will instruct his attorney to prosecute William for corrupt perjury unless he "gives up at once the illegal course upon which you have entered".

William does not leave Sarah as they go onto have 3 children and share a life of at least 30 years.

I was wondering if anyone had access to local newspapers or court information as to whether William did face prosecution as it looks like he refused to give up Sarah.

Thank you in advance.

[maddys52]

I can't see any further newspaper articles other than the ones you have probably already seen in Jan 1862.

This wikipedia article is interesting in that it seems it was not uncommon (made legal in 1907) and that in many cases was simply overlooked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deceased_Wife%27s_Sister%27s_Marriage_Act_1907

eg
"An 1848 parliamentary inquiry concluded that the Marriage Act 1835 had not appreciably diminished the number of putative marriages within the prohibited degrees.[15] Its survey of part of England found 1364 such marriages since 1835 — more than 90% with a deceased wife's sister — compared with only 88 planned marriages prevented by the Act, of whom 32 couples remained in "open cohabitation"."

[DCB]

I have come across relatives who married a former spouse's siblings but no consequences that I know of.

On the first marriage, I notice that Sarah was a witness to the marriage in the parish church in Whaplode.

There is an announcement for the second marriage in the Stamford Mercury on 6th December 1861.
"At the Free Methodist Chapel, Holbeach, on the 4th inst., Wm. Hunt, widower, of Whaplode, to Sarah Taylor."

It sounds as though the vicar was annoyed when reading it.

Again, I can't find anything other than the newspaper article.