The 1861 census for Alfred Coomes states he was a gun maker, and living with parents in Waltham Abbey.
The 1861 census for Lizzie indicates she was from Barkway.
Under Sessions and Police Intelligence on page 3 of the 06 Jan 1866 editon of the Cambridge Independent Press there is this:
Royston
January 3 - Alfred Coomes, gunmaker, was brought upon on warrant, charged with neglecting to maintain his wife, whereby she had become chargeable to the parish of Barkway. Prisoner was apprehended in London, where he was in receipt of good pay. Case adjourned for a fortnight, to give the prisoner an opportunity of settling the matter with the parish authorities where his wife had become chargeable.
Jump ahead to to 1867, and the March 23 and 26th edition of the Herts Guardian, Agricultural Journal, and General Advertiser ran this notice:
NOTICE.— I, ALFRED COOMES, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, will not be answerable for any DEBTS Wife. LIZIE COOMES, may contract after this date, March 19th, 1867
(signed A. Coombs)
Witness H.S. Chater
Divorce was extremely difficult and expensive then, and without one, Lizzie wouldn't be able to marry again until Alfred died. If Alfred changed his name and/or relocated on the sly, Lizzie wouldn't know when he died. It looks like she gave up waiting to ever know, and married James Faint by referring to herself as Lizzie Coomes, spinster, daughter of Thomas Coomes (witnessed by Edmund and Mary Castle) in 1886.
The daughter, Florence Emma, married under the surname Faint, and listed James as her father. I have not checked the other children, but it would suggest that they lived as a normal family with the surname Faint, but on the censuses, were extremely honest!
