Marriage Licence 1894

[Colin Moretti]

My G grandmother Annie Moretti, nee Kelly, married for the second time in December 1894 in Camberwell Register Office "by certificate"; she described herself as a widow. Her first husband, my G grandfather Joseph Moretti, died in the house of one of his sons in 1907 in Newington, ie 13 years later. I have Joseph in the 1881 census and 1901, both in Bermondsey but have not found him in 1891; he is named as the father of a child in 1886, the birth was reported by Annie. I have Annie in the 1891 census in Bermondsey when she is recorded as married, surname Moretti, and again in 1901, once again with the surname Moretti. There is no doubt that the 1894 marriage certificate refers to her.

Under what conditions would the licence have been granted at that time and is there any record of it?

Any words of wisdom to help resolve this conundrum will be much appreciated.

Thanks

Colin

[Peter Goodey]

"Under what conditions would the licence have been granted at that time and is there any record of it?"

Er, but you said the marriage was "by certificate" not by licence.

In this context "certificate" means the Registrar's certificate confirming that they had given proper notice and that there had been no objections.

AFAIK all Register Office marriages are "by certificate" .

Even if certificates were kept, which I doubt, they are not available to the public and wouldn't contain any more useful information than the marriage certificate itself.

[Colin Moretti]

Er, but you said the marriage was "by certificate" not by licence.A senior moment, I'm afraid; that's what can happen when I post late(ish) at night. By certificate is the right phrase.

Looks like plain old bigamy then.

As an aside, I have two further Register Office marriages. One in St Martin's in the Fields RO (December 1837) Married in the register office according to the rites and ceremonies of the parties. They were Roman Catholic and it was followed by a RC church ceremony. Another (Strand, 1861) where the phrase according to the rites and ceremonies was simply crossed out. No mention of certificate in either case but that doesn't mean that there wasn't one, of course.

Thanks for your help

Colin