St Anns fort barbados marriage 1831

[queenswood 1]

I have the marriage certificate for Lance Corporal Thomas Button (Born dorset 1793/94) to Jane Dobbin in 1831 at st Anns Fort Barbados- 35th regiment.She is shown as a spinster and on later censuses back in the UK she indicates that she was born around 1811 in the West Indies.  This was a marriage formalised by the Chaplain to the Regiment at St Anns Fort- how do I go about finding out more about Jane Dobbin?I have no ideas whether she was the daughter of a British soldier or whether she was of West Indian descent. Any guidance as to how I start would be brilliant! She and Thomas had a daughter born at the end of 1831 and they returned to England with the daughter in 1832 when Thomas discharged himself from the Army. This links in with a very long post in respect of Thomas Button himself but i thought it best to raise this as a separate thread so as to not to further extend the initial thread. Any help or guidance is much appreciated.

[ShaunJ]

There's a mention in the Jamaica slave registers of a Jane and Maria Dobbin as slave owners in St Catherine Parish in 1817. They were infants to whom slaves had been left that same year by the will of Clotworthy Dobbin. The slave returns were sworn by their mother and natural guardian Jean Rose, a free black woman.

[queenswood 1]

Oh my goodness Shaun- does that mean then that Jane Dobbin was white or a slave? I would welcome any help you can give me with this one please. i have also emailed the 35th regiment archives in Sussex to see if the regimental records show anything more. I am quite out of my comfort zone with this line of enquiry and your help is really appreciated.

Caroline

[queenswood 1]

How can they be infants and slave owners? How did that work?

[ShaunJ]

The slaves were bequeathed to them by the will of Clotworthy Dobbin. Jane and Maria were presumably his children by Jean Rose and so (again presumably) the children would have been of mixed race.

[MaxD]

Forgive the nit pick but Barbados is 1230 miles from Jamaica - do the registers cover that island as well??

maxD

[ShaunJ]

A fair point Max.

Also on the 1861 census her birthplace is shown as "West Indies Isle Dominica"

[MaxD]

The history I cited (without acknowledgement!!) on the thread about William Button notes a deployment to Dominica in 1826

https://archive.org/stream/anhistoricalmem00trimgoog#page/n132/mode/2up/search/dominica

maxD

[queenswood 1]

Thank you all for your hard work and research- I have just returned home! The birth certificate for Jane Budden born to Thomas Budden and Jane Dobbin is dated 27th Dec 1831 at Fort Ann Barbados- and baptised there on 22nd Jan 1832- by the chaplain to the 35th regiment. so i have assumed from the documents that their daughter was in fact born in Barbados. However, you are quite correct that Jane Dobbin- wife of Thomas Budden states Dominique on the Censuses for 1841 and 1851- and simply West Indies in 1861.
So.......how does this sit with your previous comments re the Jamaican slave listings please?
How do i start to look at birth records for Jane dobbin around 1811 in Dominique?

I am now re- reading the link for the movements of 35th regiment to see from 1821 to 1832 to see if I can establish which of the locations Thomas Budden was stationed in- and when. I wonder if he was ever in Dominique which is where he may have met Jane dobbin? The search continues- with hugely grateful thanks!

Caroline