Hi, I may be looking for something which doesn't exist, but perhaps someone will have suggestions.
I'm looking for details of the marriage of James Ashton Benney and Margaret Brown, which probably took place between 1845 and 1851, maybe in India.
James Benney (born in Cornwall in 1812) joined the 94th Regiment of Foot aged 14 in March 1826 and became a pensioner 26 years later in 1852. Notes on his service from the pension records are attached — looks like he served in Gibraltar, Malta, Ceylon, and India, as expected from the history of the regiment. After this he lived in Chatham, Kent, until he died in 1877.
According to the censuses of 1861 and 1871, his wife was born in Ireland (Kings County). Their first son James was (according to the 1861 census) born on "board of ship" in about 1851, with the next two sons born in Kent. In the 1871 census it is claimed that all their children were born in Kent.
In 1851 I believe the 94th Regiment of Foot was still in India. I haven't found any details of a marriage between James Benney and Margaret Brown or any information about how a single Irish woman would be in India. I have searched through the British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960 and the UK, Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths at Sea, 1844-1890 on Ancestry and can't find anything relevant, nor can I find anything relevant in Irish or English records.
In the GRO Index to Marine Births 1837-1862 there are two male children with the surname Benny listed (attached). Does anyone have recommendations for getting certificates or details for these children, or is there a way of checking sites like Ancestry to see if they've already been identified?
However, there is a baptism listed as taking place in October 1851 in the Garrison Chapel Brompton, Kent, of William Arthur Benney, born to James and Margaret (attached). This is especially odd as there are no subsequent details of William Arthur Benney, only James Benney, who appeared to have been born at a similar time. You would think that William Arthur Benney was referred to by the name James Benney, but James Benney's son named one of his sons William Arthur, so there may be some significance to the name and perhaps William Arthur died.
This is all I know about this family mystery. My suspicion is that James Benney and Margaret Brown were either never married or were unofficially married on board a ship or were married in India where it wasn't recorded. We know very little about Margaret Brown and only have speculative evidence about who her parents were. She was probably born about 1827, and she died in 1878. Is there some way of finding out why she was in India, if she was in India? With her family?
Perhaps someone will have thoughts on all this speculation. Thanks to anyone who's read all this!
