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The marraige had broken down before he enrolled.

Although he had children (otherwise I wouldn't be here!),  no allowance was made for them in assessing his pension.

He seems to have disappeared without trace - I'm wondering if he ever came back to the UK or if he "went native" on discharge - I guess some people did that?

I'd be grateful for some fresh eyes and thoughts on another couple of puzzles that have me foxed.

I'll try to give as much info as I have as succinctly as I can!

On Sept 9 1845, in the Leicester registry office, John JEAYES (widow) married Elizabeth LANGTON (spinster).  Both were of "full age", both were frame work knitters, and both parties were resident in Fleet St, Leicester. John Langton (?Elizabeth's brother) was one of the witnesses. Their daughter, Sarah Ann JAYES was born in October 1846. (John Langton was also a witness at another wedding in my tree in 1841, to a different family into which Sarah Ann Jayes eventually married, leading me to suspect that it was the same John Langton - that might be relevant info depending on how old you had to be to be a witness at weddings).

The family's surname has been inaccurately transcribed as JONS in the 1851 census (so that took some finding!). John's suggested DOB was 1811, Elizabeth's 1823. By 1861, it was JEAYES, Elizabeth had died and John is shown as 59 years old and from Enderby, Leic.

The marraige cert gives John's father's name as John Jeayes -- and Elizabeth's as Joseph Jeayes! I can only think of 2 possible scenarios:
1. Elizabeth's mother was widowed and remarried a Joseph Jeayes who was then named as E's father. But I can't find any evidence of such a marraige. I think John had a younger brother Joseph but this is probably irrelevant.
2. The registrar wrote it down wrong! But is this likely? Bear in mind that all parties except the registrar were illiterate so wouldn't have known to correct the error.

So I'm trying to sort out who Elizabeth's parents really were, with little to go on. I'd also like to confirm John's background - I think he was married first to a Sarah and had children in that first marraige but can't confirm this. I also believe his parents were John Jeys and Elizabeth Tebbet, married Enderby 1801 - they had at least 4 children, John being the oldest and born in 1802 - but I can't work any further back as there was more than one John Jeys in Enderby in 1800!

Sorry this is longwinded but if anyone is able to help I wanted to give you as much info as I could!

Muchas gracias

Thomas William Kilner was born in Leic in 1881.

In July 1915, he joined the army and gave his address as 5, Lion Terrace, Carlton Road, Nottingham. He served in the Leicestershire regiment in India and Mesopotamia and was discharged as no longer fit for service in Jan 1818.

I can find no record of him after that; I don't know if he returned to Nottingham or even the UK.

If anyone has any info either about a possible "sighting", or any info about the Nottingham address, I'd be very grateful!

Goodness me, what an incredible response and a wonderful welcome to Rootschat! Thankyou all very much!

I was interested to see that John Langton was a witness for Thomas and Mary Ann's marraige in 1841 - I have a copy of the certificate but hadn't noticed that name. He was also a witness to the marraige of Elizabeth Langton (who I think was his sister) and John Jeayes in 1845, and their daughter, Sarah Ann Jayes, went on to marry Thomas and Mary Ann Kilner's son, Thomas born 1850. John Jeayes was also from Enderby so I wonder if the families had known each other for years before moving into the city.

I hadn't known of Rhoda, but Thomas and Mary lived for years on Lewin St as well so they may well be from the same family.

I've got all my info from census returns, the IGI and certificates. How do you find the information regarding banns? And where do you get the info about the graves? (I've got several photos of ancestors' graves in various villages but wouldn't even know which church to look at in the cities!) What does the C and F by the names in some of those plots stand for? And does the burial of several seemingly unrelated people in one plot signify a paupers' grave? I have no delusioins of grandeur about my ancestors and Joseph wasn't the only one to have ended his days in the workhouse.

Looking forward to learning more ---

Muchas gracias 

Kilner isn't a common name in Leicester so you'd think it would be easy to track them down. But no --

I've traced one branch of my tree to a Thomas Kilner who was born in Enderby around 1821.

His father was Joseph (I know this from Thomas's marraige cert).  The IGI shows 2 other Kilner children born in 1816 and 1826 Enderby to a Joseph Kilner, who married an Elizabeth Will; Thomas isn't mentioned but I'm sure it must be the same family, there aren't any other Kilners!

I can't find any trace of Kilners in Leicestershire before this. They're also very difficult to find after this; Thomas's name is variously spelled/misspelled/mistranscribed as Kelner, Kilmer, Rilner and Kilney on various documents. He was "Kilmer" when he married, "Kilner" when he died, and the other spellings made him difficult to trace through the censuses - but I got there! I have Thomas's wedding certificate and the birth reg cert of his son, also Thomas, in 1851, so have been able to compare addresses etc, so I feel confident of the info I have so far. (It didn't help though that Thomas Junior appeared in the 1851 census as J Kelner ---  )

His father, Joseph, reappears in the Leicester workhouse as Joseph Kilmer and died there in 1866 but I can't find any trace of him in the censuses before then!

Can anyone help? I'd like to know where Joseph was inbetween 1821ish and 1866; it might help me sort out other aspects of my tree! I'd also love to find out where Joseph had come from. I don't think he was from Leicestershire originally. Any ideas how I might be able to stretch my search further back with so little info to hand?

And if anyone knows of any Kilners in Leicestershire around the turn of the 19-20th centuries, I'd also be very interested to hear more.

Muchas gracias