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David that is an absolutely brilliant and priceless piece of information for me.  Thank you so much! 

My Edwin was born in June 1865 - so at the time the Banns were read, Betsy's intended obviously knew what he was in for and presumably thought better of it!

Poor Betsy.

Now to pursue the recalcitrant Mr Hart!!

Hi I have the Baltonsborough bmds for St Dunstans. I transcribed them for free reg.
What did you want to know.
Julienne

Julienne that would be wonderful!  Thanks so much.  The information I'm seeking would be in the Banns; not the marriages.  My great-great-grandmother - Betsy Leversuch (aka Jefferies & variants on the spelling) gave birth to my great-grandfather, Edwin Leversuch, in June 1865.

The father's name is blank on the birth certificate and the baptism records.  I have been told that prior to Edwin's birth, the Banns were read in St Dunstan's for Betsy's marriage to (rumour has it) a man from Oxfordshire.  That marriage didn't take place.  Unfortunately, I didn't know that when I was last in Somerset and so couldn't access the Banns myself.

Betsy didn't actually marry until many years later, when she married a local farmer who was a widower.  (I have the certificate for that marriage, but not to hand as I write). 

Edwin was not a family name, though I have found two other Edwins in the Baltonsborough area - one of whom emigrated with his parents at around the time of my Edwin's birth.  It does seem though that Edwin was the 20th most popular boys' name in the 1860s.  So I'd need a bit more to pin my roots on than someone of the same name who legged it to America!

Thanks Jebber.  That's really logical.

I actually managed to get through to FindMyPast on the phone just now and they said that the British Newspaper Archive is a "fuller" archive than the newspaper on FindMyPast. Titles are available there that aren't yet available on FindMyPast.

 What I didn't think to ask, but should have, was whether Northern Irish newspapers papers would be availablle at BNA that are not on FindMyPast. I do find it frustrating that Irish records require a further FindMyPast subscription. I would have thought that pre 1922 all Ireland records would be included in the Britain subscription, even if they won't let us see post 1922 Irish Republic or NI records.  I suppose it's because it's carefully worded as "Britain", rather than "United Kingdom" subscription.

So, I took out a subscription.  Now, a week later, I get an email of an offer to subscribe to their "sister" site, British Newspaper Archives.

But when I used a free access weekend on FindMyPast, just a month or so ago, access to the newspapers was included and everything I had read led me to believe this archive was accessible to FindMyPast members.

I've just logged on (admittedly on my phone, so it's not so easy to navigate) and sure enough I can't seem to access any newspapers, including those items that I viewed on the test weekend.

Ooh that's interesting. Thanks Shaun. I haven't got that bar. I do have "report image", "print" and "download" though. I'll try some different searches tomorrow and see whether it's just a problem with that particular set.  Thanks very much for your guidance.