General Chat

Hi there,
we have just uncovered a bit of a anomaly and seek comments from anybody who has come across this before.
My wife's grandad and grandmother seem to have been married twice,with certificates to prove it,
One marriage was in dec 1911 in Canterbury,at a church,the next time was in August 1913 in Elham,in a registry office.They were living in a residential house the first time and then in Shorncliffe army barracks at the 2nd marriage,He was in the RAMC then.
Can anbody suggest why the 2 events? we certainly can't.

regds

mike and sue

I take it you have the actual certs and are certain it is the same couple, not a different one with the same names?

hi,
yes we have the certs,they both have identical names and professions of their fathers are the same

mike

Maybe they were not legal according to the army when they first married and had to re-marry to get army accommodation. (Was one of them maybe married before and the divorce not legal/through? Or could one of them have been under age the first time?

i believe you had to get your Commanding Officers consent to marry so if they married in church without it then the Army wouldn't recognise it . They probably had to remarry in the Registry Office so as to get all the benefits the Army offered .ie accommodation,allotment payment to spouse etc, .
Catholic Marriages .unless also done by the registrar at the time were not legal marriages. I married in the 1950,s in a Catholic Church and we had the registrar legally marry us too in the vestry before we signed the Register that the registrar brought with her from the Registry Office

If he was in the Army at the first time and hadnt had CO permission or had the relevant paper signed by the army then it was the done thing to go through a civil one.

My parents, for religious reasons had two"marriages", but only the church one is named on the certificate that I have..
Hmm!
interesting though......

Bob

I also have relatives who married twice. I have two certificates - one for December 1906 and one for July 1907. The cerfiticates are identical except for the name of the female witness. The same registrar signed both certificates. I have never been able to find out why and in fact only found out when I ordered both certificates.
Julia in Oz

My friend got married twice once in his church and once in her church and this is two different religions

Hi to one and all

many thanks for everybodies input and comments,the most likely one is of the army requiring to give further permissions-on the second cert he had became a medical dispenser in the RAMC,and was living at SHORNCLIFFE barracks at the time of the second marriage-
we'll see if we can find any further info though on the Catholic faith idea.

regards

mike