Marriage of William Coley Sutton

[Bellini]

William Coley Sutton b 1840 bpt 22 April 1840 All Saints Hastings Sussex. son of William Sutton and Jane Adams. I have found him in 1841/1851 and 1871 censuses but cannot trace in 1861 census (ancestry). By 1871 William is married to Emma (b 1844 Hastings) and they have a son William Coley Sutton b 1869. William lived in Hastings all his life, occupation Fisherman, yet I haven't found a marriage for him. Can anyone help please?

[sillgen]

What is Emma's maiden name as shown on the birth certificate for their child William born in 1869?  That will improve your chances of finding the marriage.   Have you searched after the birth as well as before?

[lizdb]

As for 1861, as a fisherman he may well have been out at sea on census night , and probably before marriage (Emma would only be 17).

[lizdb]

1901
49 All Saints Street Hastings
William 61 fisherman bn Hastings
Emma 56 bn Heathfield
Frederick 26 fisherman bn Hastings

So maybe Emma wasn't a Hastings girl, and maybe marriage was in brides parish, wherever she was living at the time.

[lizdb]

This is a possibity - if Emma is actually short for Amaryllis!

Apr/May/Jun 1865
Hailsham 2b 108
William Sutton / Amaryllis Cornford

I see on earlier censuses Amaryllis Cornford was born in Heathfield at the right time (age 7 in 1851, 17 in 1861)
AND I'm not seeing an Amaryllis Sutton on 1871 onwards .... so if that marriage isn't "our" William and Emma, then the William and Amarylis couple disappear.

[sillgen]

Good find!    That sounds very possible.   A birth certificate would prove it though.

[Bellini]

Thanks for your suggestions, sillgen and Lizdb. i haven't a birth cert for William Coley Sutton (junior) born 1869 or other children's. That is clearly my next step! You have the right couple in 1901 at 49 All Saints Street Hastings though. Emma (?) was born about 1844 in Heathfield.