Enigmatic H. Hughes

[sueannbowen]

I would be grateful for some suggestions with this particular brick. I have a marriage between Elizabeth Hughes and George Parker 19 October 1823 at Lambeth St Mary (London England Marriages & Banns 1754 - 1921 is the dataset). A witness at that marriage is a certain H. Hughes. The next entry in the register is the marriage of her sister Jane Hughes to a George Levett. The mysterious H. Hughes is also a witness. But to me the signatures look different, and I would appreciate another opinion on that. I think it is unusual for someone to sign with just an initial and it is also a pain in the neck. I have no idea whether the H is a boy or a girl, their father, mother or their bother or sister!

So far have not been able to find a Jane and Elizabeth Hughes with the same parents baptised in the same parish although I have a Jane daughter of John and Sarah baptised in St Mary Islington 1799 and and Elizabeth daugther of John and Sarah baptised in Lambeth 1802. No idea if they are mine though. I cannot find Jane in any census to give me a clue about where she was born - her children are living with Elizabeth in the 1841. Elizabeth remarried in 1832 to a Thomas Fotherby and I can find her in most census.

So, to get to the point finally. Is the witness at the marriages of these girls the same person even though the signatures don't look right. Is it likely to be a male given that the other witnesses are female?

[lesleys]

One of the signatures is very well defined and looks very similar to the writing on the entry (not signature) for the Marriage of a Henry Hughes to Ann Maria Grant at St Mary's Lambeth in 1826. could it be that he forgot to sign and it was filled in by the clerk/minister?
There is another Henry Hughes marriage ion 1824 to Ann Francis.
a closer look at these Henrys might yield results for you.

[sueannbowen]

a closer look at these Henrys might yield results for you.

Hmm not finding in the census. I hoped he would be Elizabeth and Jane's brother but no luck so far.

[malcolm99]

The mysterious H. Hughes is also a witness. But to me the signatures look different, and I would appreciate another opinion on that.

It's often difficult to say whether 2 signatures are the same but in this case the balance of similarities seems to me to outweigh the differences. The obvious difference is the capital H which is quite different.

However the size and weight (i.e.pressure of pen on the page) are very similar and there is little difference between the “ghes” in both. Given that good quality fountain pens were many decades off it wouldn’t surprise me that these are signatures of the same person. To explain the capital H’s is more difficult but I would say that as the H’s are the same within each signature, he(/she?) just chose to write H in 2 separate ways on a whim. I may of course be quite wrong but I'll stick with my theory for the time being .

I don’t think that the minister or clerk would tamper with the signature and I’d also say that it’s not that uncommon for people to use an initial instead of their name.

One thing I do like about this witness entry is that the ubiquitous Mr Gawler hasn’t muscled in as a witness – he was still performing that duty when my GGG Grandfather was married there in 1837!