Holborn Marriages 1841

[ollieandjas]

Hello
I'm currently compiling a survey of my parish church graveyard and researching the lives of the occupants of the graves. As a churchwarden I get a lot of enquiries from the descendants of those who lived in our village in the past and would like to be able to furnish them with more detailed information about they ancestors, FOC of course.
I currently have an interesting subject, a farmer named Abraham Bull, who married twice. So far not unusual but he married two sisters. At the time of his possible marriage, following the Marriage Act of 1835, it was illegal under both ecclesiastical and English Law to marry your deceased wife's sister. The younger sister's headstone states she was "the wife" of Abraham Bull. The parish register records her as Elizabeth Bull but when her five children were baptised in the parish church they were all recorded under the name of Rippin (her maiden name) with no mention of illegitimacy or the father.
I have located a reference to a marriage dated 1841 between and Elizabeth Rippin and an Abraham Bull which took place in Holborn in 1841. I have looked online for the Holborn registers but cannot locate them. Can I please ask if anyone can point me to any websites that have these records of marriage.
any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Jayne

[Milliepede]

when her five children were baptised in the parish church they were all recorded under the name of Rippin

When were the 5 children born?

You can apply for a copy of the 1841 marriage certificate if you wish to do so but see if anyone can find it online for you first.

[ollieandjas]

Hello Millipede
There were six children (just found another one) born in 1842, 1843, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1850

[ValJJJ]

There is an Abraham Bull marrying Charlotte Rippin on 13 Feb 1834 at Edmondthorpe, Leicestershire. Ancestry references this as FHL Film Number 592706

ADD: Charlotte Bull of Pilton, buried in Pilton, Rutland January 12th 1840.

Is this 'your' sister?

[ValJJJ]

The Govt Record Office has:

BULL, ISAAC  JOHN     MMN RIPPIN 
GRO Reference: 1845  M Quarter in OF THE UPPINGHAM UNION  Volume 15  Page 76

Is this the John Rippin son of Elizabeth baptized in Pilton in July 1845?

[ValJJJ]

Like you I can only find the marriage index, not a Holborn register.

Meanwhile, in 1851 census in Pilton:
Elizabeth Bull, 30, farmer of 135 acres, widow
with children:
Mary Ann Bull, 16  (in the baptism records Feb 1835 her mother was Charlotte)
William Bull  9
Abraham Bull 7
John Bull 6
Philip Tyler Bull 3
Elizabeth Sarah Bull 2

[softly softly]

A marriage licence was issued 3rd September 1841 between Abraham Bull and Elizabeth Rippin. Transcript on FindMyPast.

SS

[Eyesee]

The Holborn registers are on Ancestry, but if it is only showing up in the GRO marriage index then it is quite likely to have been a registry office marriage. A number of trees on Ancestry have the date as 18 September.

Some clergy would turn a blind eye to marrying your deceased wife's sister. Some couples would just go to the next door parish, where nobody knew them.

Have this in one of my lines. Marriage to first sister was in Sussex where both families were from. For marriage to second sister they went to Jersey.

Ian C

[ollieandjas]

Hello Val JJJ yes Charlotte Rippin was the sister and first wife of Abraham Bull. The Isaac John Bull does appear to have been Elizabeth and Abraham’s son, though he was baptised John Rippin.

The children that were registered were recorded under the surname Bull even though they were baptised as Rippins.

Thank you Eyesee and Softly Softly for the information about the marriage licence. I currently don’t have a Find my Past subscription so I may have to purchase a certificate to be able to verify if this is the correct couple. I think the clergy could have been the problem here for this couple, possibly refusing to recognise their marriage.