~1849 Bethnal Green Marriage Record - Francis Franks m. Susan Barrett

[lorna01]

Hi there,

I’m really curious to track down a marriage record, if one exists, for Francis Franks, a hemp and flax dresser, born ~1826 in Spitalfields and Susan Franks née Barrett, a shoe binder (later a match box maker), born ~1828 in Bethnal Green.

Their eldest daughter Sarah was born in 1850, at which point they were living at 4 Preston Street, Bethnal Green. Sarah was baptised as St Simon Zelotes on 14 April 1850. So I would assume Francis and Susan were married around 1849 in Bethnal Green but my search for a record has yielded nothing so far in the marriage index or banns records.

I'm new to London-focused research so any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,

Lorna

[avm228]

Welcome to Rootschat 

I am not easily seeing a relevant marriage either.  Often in these situations the answer is simply that people didn’t marry.  We can usually only speculate as to why - perhaps parenthood presented itself unexpectedly and they just got on with it, or they believed in the myth of “common-law marriage” and didn’t think any formalities were required.

Have you found the family in the 1851 census?  It is eluding me at the moment.

[lorna01]

Thanks very much for the welcome And for the quick and helpful reply.

That was my suspicion too, though I was hoping it wasn't the case! Very interesting to hear your suggestions for why people didn't get married.

Unfortunately I don't have them in 1851. I nearly mentioned in the main post but I was worried about making it too lengthy: as well as the marriage I'm also missing the whole family in both 1851 and 1871.

On the off chance that anyone can weigh in on those:

1851
I suspect that they somehow evaded the census, as they lived at 4 Preston street in both April 1850 and at daughter Jane's birth in Dec 1851, but for the census that house appears uninhabited (HO107/1540/202 p 20). No idea if this would've been deliberate or not (do people deliberately avoid census takers?)

1871
I have them in 1861 at 12, Wharf Road, South Hackney, and then a string of other addresses around Islington, Bethnal Green and Shoreditch for 1864, 1869, 1876 and 1879 (they seemed to move a fair bit). But despite several generic and address-specific searches haven't found them in 1871 either.

A further note: Francis died in Waterloo Road workhouse in 1879 but the widowed Susan is still around in 1881. She lived with two of her daughters at 2 Virginia Row, Bethnal Green. Unfortunately post 1881 I can't find any obviously compelling records for her (either alive in another census or a death/burial).

A very slippery family when it comes to official records!

[rosie99]

Welcome to rootschat

Could this be Susans death 
March qtr 1892 
Franks    Susanna   age 66   
Kensington reg district    1a   114

[lorna01]

Thank you for the welcome Rosie, and many thanks for the suggestion also. 

It's one of the possibilities for sure, but I've decided against purchasing the certificate for the time being as she never previously went by Susanna that I know of and the Kensington area seems just a little out of the way (and a bit upmarket?). Haven't ruled it out, but I'm slightly more tempted by a couple of death records for Susan Barrett in Islington and St George in the East. Think I'll hold off until I feel one is more likely than the rest. There are a handful of Workhouse admission records with some potential, too - I'd like to look into those more closely in case, like Francis, she was admitted to one before her death.

[jonw65]

Admission to Bethnal Green Workhouse, 3rd March 1883
Susan Franks
born 1826
9 Satchwell Street
discharge 17.3.83

[lorna01]

That seems promising, thanks very much!

[jennifer c]

Looks like daughter Ellen 14 is a kitchen maid in Edmonton in 1871

Jennifer

[rosie99]

Welcome to rootschat

Could this be Susans death 
March qtr 1892 
Franks    Susanna   age 66   
Kensington reg district    1a   114

You can ignore that one she is at RG12 /26 f129 p17 in 1891 (Kensington)