Same couple married each other twice within 18 months

[Gadget]

I've just discovered that a second cousin married the same person twice and I'm rather puzzled.

One entry is for Q2 1925 and one is for Q4 1926. They are definitely the same couple and the same registration district. The second was a church wedding, by licence , performed by a brother who was ordained (but not the vicar of the parish). I found the full cert for the second marriage on FindMyPast. The first one was probably a registry office marriage as I've found no entry in the local records (either in Denbighshire or Shropshire as the RD straddled the border)  so I'll have to send off for the cert.

In the meantime, does anyone have any ideas why this might have occurred  or even if it was legally possible. Their first child was born a year later so it wasn't a rushed marriage.

Gadget

[Girl Guide]

Perhaps the first marriage was irregular in some way?  Would the bride and/or the bridegroom have needed the permission of parents?

Maybe the family insisted on a second wedding because there were no family members present at the first?

[rosie99]

The only instance I have found in my family of the same people marrying twice were when the groom was in the forces so presumably had married 'without permission'

[Flattybasher9]

Are you really related to Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor ? 

Mlaky

[Gadget]

Are you really related to Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor ? 

Mlaky

How did you guess - my Welsh side 

Seriously, the groom was 37 and the bride was 27 on  the second one. The groom's parents were dead.  I had the impression from the family that it was a shot gun one.  I'm wondering if there was a pregnancy that miscarried and they had a rushed one but didn't tell anyone. They then had the church wedding and no one knew of the first one. They gave different addresses on the second one too.   I thought that the second one wouldn't have been legal though. The Church one should have been a blessing only - surely? I suppose that if they hadn't admitted marriage, then no one would have been any wiser.

There's no one to ask now as the couple's only child died 2 years ago 


Gadget

[familydar]

I have something similar but seven years apart and involving a surname change of the groom.  Both of full age.  All I can surmise is a not proven dead estranged first wife (hence 7 years) and associated scandal (hence name change) but I've never found anything in the newspapers and no family legends have been passed down so an enduring mystery.

It will be interesting to find out what theories other rootschatters have because they may blow my idea right out of the water!

Jane :-)

[AntonyMMM]

These double marriages do crop up quite regularly - and often there is no obvious explanation. The WW2 fighter pilot Sir Douglas Bader being a well known example.

It is quite legal ( and specifically allowed under the Marriage Act) for a couple to have a religious wedding ceremony after already being married in a register office - but the second marriage doesn't require banns or any licence  and should not be entered into the church's marriage register.

[Gadget]

.

It is quite legal ( and specifically allowed under the Marriage Act) for a couple to have a religious wedding ceremony after already being married in a register office - but the second marriage doesn't require banns or any licence  and should not be entered into the church's marriage register.

But it was by licence and was written into the register and is listed in the GRO index 

Thanks for everybody's comments so far.

Gadget

[Melbell]

At the second marriage, what did the bride and groom give as their marital statuses?

If they felt that the first marriage was irregular in some way, that could account for it.  But a second marriage only serves to cast doubt on the validity of the first, so it's not usually advisable, especially if there are already children.

Melbell