EVANS & JOLLIFFE - married each other twice?

[Bherbe]

I was hoping to get a more experienced perspective please on whether anyone has seen one couple marrying twice before. This seems to have happened with Evan EVANS and Edith Mary JOLLIFFE. There is a marriage entry for them on the 28th February 1908 in Cardiff, Glamorgan and then again on 23rd February 1909 in Devizes, Wiltshire. I have the certificate for the Cardiff marriage and the online image of the Register for the Devizes marriage and the details seem to match up but does anyone have any ideas as to why they would do this and even if it would have been legal? The simple answer might be that the groom was Welsh from Glamorgan and the bride was originally from Devizes but this happens often in family history and I have never seen two separate marriage entries. Thanks very much for any input.

[MargP]

Hi was Evan Evans in the Military

[Bherbe]

Hi MargP, interesting that you should ask that - I don't know - but have been trying to answer that very question this morning! I only know that he is described as a Civil Engineer almost exclusively on any record I have for him (sometimes just civil engineer as on the marriage records, 1911 Taff Vale Railway and 1939 "Roads and Railways" in Cardiff). Locating an Evan EVANS in military records is definitely proving to be time consuming but, serving in WW1, for example, would help me narrow down where he may have been 1914-1918, which would help me with other lines of enquiry that I have. Would a military connection have made a difference to the two marriages? I also googled this issue and someone had commented that they didn't want the one side of the family to know that they had already been married so wanted to "stage" a second marriage - perhaps this happened here....

[Lily M]

I see from the Devices marriage (online) that two Joliffes were witnesses.
I wonder if any family members witnessed the Cardiff marriage, or could it have been carried out more secretively?

[Ladyhawk]

Betty Margaret Evans born 25 Dec 1913
Baptism 5 Jul 1914 Devizes, St John the Baptist, Wiltshire
Father:   Evan Evans, civil engineer.   Mother:   Edith Mary
abode :Loestan Whitchurch Cardiff

As for locating Army Records for an Evan Evans - what about checking his signature from his 1909 marriage against any records you find and his address from bpt. record

Edit - death of dau

Bettie Margaret Evans  Age:   87. Birth Date:   25 Dec 1913
Registration Date:   Jun 2001 Cardiff
Register Number:   D29B District and Subdistrict:   8901D Entry Number:   75

[Ladyhawk]

Edward Jolliffe Evans Birth 25 Jan 1910
Baptism 27 Mar 1910 Devizes, St John the Baptist, Wiltshire
Father:   Evan Evans, civil engineer Mother:   Edith Mary
Abode Leostan, The Avenue Whitchurch

Edit - his death entry

Edward Jolliffe Evans died age 86 born 25 Jan 1910
Jul 1996 Cardiff Register Number: C2B District and Subdistrict: 8901C Entry Number: 79

[MargP]

Hi MargP, interesting that you should ask that - I don't know - but have been trying to answer that very question this morning! I only know that he is described as a Civil Engineer almost exclusively on any record I have for him (sometimes just civil engineer as on the marriage records, 1911 Taff Vale Railway and 1939 "Roads and Railways" in Cardiff). Locating an Evan EVANS in military records is definitely proving to be time consuming but, serving in WW1, for example, would help me narrow down where he may have been 1914-1918, which would help me with other lines of enquiry that I have. Would a military connection have made a difference to the two marriages? I also googled this issue and someone had commented that they didn't want the one side of the family to know that they had already been married so wanted to "stage" a second marriage - perhaps this happened here....

Yes I have seen this before where a man in the Army did not did not get permission too married and at a later date married the same person with permission from the Army

[hanes teulu]

Were they both Church weddings or Register Office and Church?

[Bherbe]

I see from the Devices marriage (online) that two Joliffes were witnesses.
I wonder if any family members witnessed the Cardiff marriage, or could it have been carried out more secretively?

Hi Lily M, thanks for the reply - the witnesses on the Cardiff marriage entry are not family that I know of ("Robert Hyde" and "B. Lewis Hopkins") whereas with the Wiltshire marriage, as you point out, the witnesses were family - brother and sister of the bride.

With reference also to the reply from hanes Teulu, the Cardiff marriage was in the Register Office, while the Wiltshire marriage was by Banns at St John the Baptist, Devizes, Wiltshire... so the Cardiff marriage might have been a less formal, "quick", possibly secret, marriage I suppose. I have not been able to find a child born to them until 1910 but perhaps I should have looked under her maiden name - I will look again. Thank you.