RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => Australia => Topic started by: Erato on Friday 02 April 10 23:02 BST (UK)
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I have been searching through the Historic Australian Newspaper collection at the NLA and found an unusual marriage announcement published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 10 October 1890. The announcement refers to a marriage which occurred in 1868.
Banks - Windsor. - December 14, 1868, at Gympie, Queensland, by Rev. Isaac Mackay, at Presbyterian Church, Silas Alfred Banks, of Sydney to Mary Ann Windsor, of Maryport, Cumberland, England. Home papers please copy.
Any thoughts on why this would have been published more than 20 years after the event?
Silas later attemped, unsuccessfully, to divorce Mary Ann [as reported in the SMH of 3 March 1894]. Could the 1890 marriage announcement be some sort of legal requirement connected to the divorce proceeding?
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Curious. I can't imagine any legal reason for the marriage announcement, but the answer might depend on the nature of the subsequent divorce proceedings. Assuming for one moment that Silas was responsible for the item being published, perhaps he was trying to draw attention to the marriage in the hope that someone might step forward and challenge it's legality?
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I have not seen the documentation on the failed divorce suit. The newspaper report indicates that Silas sued for divorce on the grounds of Mary Ann’s adultery in 1877 and 1879 [co-respondent an unknown Mr. Mooney]. The suit was dismissed by the judge because Silas failed to give sufficient reason for having delayed so long in filing for divorce.
I do not know who placed the announcement in the newspaper. I did write to the Morning Herald to enquire whether they had any record of who paid for it [fat chance, but worth a try]; I got no reply from the SMH.
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Hmmm. Very odd, especially as the marriage was properly registered in Qld.
Wonder if this is him?
The Advertiser, Adelaide, 20 June 1916 - report from Sydney that a bookmaker Silas Banks of Mosman had made 'oral and public statements against her moral character' about Marjorie Jane Lundie. She was awarded 400 pounds - he failed to appear.
Judith
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Could it have been placed under the wrong heading, whereas it should have been "Anniversaries". I found a "Death" that was placed under "Marriages" in one newspaper, and the wording nearly fitted both headings, but it ended up being a "Death".
The wording of your example could also fit an "Anniversay" heading, and in fact is very similar to a number of "Anniversay" announcements I have for my ancestors.
Les
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No that was a different Silas Banks - I’ve got four of them. The one with the delayed marriage announcement was uncle to the one who slandered Marjorie Jane Lundie.
I don't think it could be an anniversary announcement because it was published in October and they were married in December.
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I don't think it could be an anniversary announcement because it was published in October and they were married in December.
Yes, you got me there - the dates didn't even register " in me thick 'ead".
But another suggestion. As the wife had apparently committed adultery, she may have had a reputation as such? Could this have been a general announcement placed in the paper by the husband to "remind" his wife that she was married , or to inform others that she was in fact married, and stay away!
Les
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But another suggestion. As the wife had apparently committed adultery, she may have had a reputation as such? Could this have been a general announcement placed in the paper by the husband to "remind" his wife that she was married , or to inform others that she was in fact married, and stay away!
Les
I was thinking along these lines - that for the divorce suit he was required to make it publicly known that they were married by placing an announcement. But if that were the case, then such announcements would be commonplace. And you’d think that they’d be placed with the legal announcements, not with the BMDs.
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Maybe it wasn't anything official for the divorce case, but just a general announcemnt to the "others" - a matter of honour perhaps?
Les
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That sounds more like it Les!
Bev