Genealogy Chat

the wedding took place in bodmin registery office the groom was 24 and was witnessed by the brides father and sister and the grooms address was the barracks at bodmin now awaiting army records

I can add that William Marden Jnr (my grandfather) enlisted to the army in London in 1898 and was in the Duke of Cornwalls Light infantry for 26 years and based at Bodmin Barracks. He had South Africa and WW1 medals. We have his discharge paper that gives his year of birth as 1880. We know all about his life after the army but hope to find more from his army records when we get them.

One puzzle is that he was living with his wife and sons in Gravesend Kent during the 1911 census but we have no idea why. Other later members of the family were born at Bodmin, Andover and Plymouth during his army service. The census entry shows he was born in Camberwell "about 1881"

I have done a compete search of all William Mardens (and variations) but failed to find anyone of them born in 1880 or 1881. I assume his father, William Marden snr, would have been born around 1860 but cant find one that had a son William of the right age.

I suppose there is always a possibility he lied about his age when signing up but we await further clues

He could also have invented a father

There were Barracks in Gravesend, so that might have been the reason he was there.

Added - look on a map for Albion Rd, Gravesend (where William Marden 1881 was living in 1911) The Barracks were roughly where the Sikh Temple is now.

2nd Add @ 1212

http://www.britisharmedforces.org/scli_%20pages/pages/gravesend.htm
On the 14th October 1908, the 1st Bn. D.C.L.I. consisting of 767 Officers and men, were posted to Milton Barracks from Woolwich and marched from Gravesend station to their new quarters headed by a band of 65 musicians and a twenty strong Silver bugle section, much appreciated by hundreds of local people who lined the roads to see and cheer them. The Regiment band had been trained for six years by Bandmaster H. Morton Reilly, who had also trained and introduced a string orchestra of 45 men. Weather permitting, the D.C.L.I. band gave a public concert on the Parade ground every Wednesday afternoon up until they left the barracks in 1911.

After nearly three years at the barracks, the 1st Bn. D.C.L.I., at the time considered by local people to have been the most popular Regiment ever stationed in Gravesend, were transferred to Tidworth on the 4th September 1911. The D.C.L.I. were replaced on the 27th September 1911 by 841 Officers and men of the 2nd Bn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
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DCLI are the initials used by William on the 1911 census entry :-D

Thanks very much for all the info about the dcli very useful as for the information on his marriage certificate i cant see as he would give a specific job title like brass finisher as his father occupation i think he would have said he was a labourer or something similar we think there might have been some change of name sometime my father was quite sure that some of williams relatives visited him when he lived in tottenham and that they were located in hoxton once again all new information is very welcome but sorry reggie your information is not very helpful