My great grandparents (mother's paternal grandparents) were Henry Amos Bowdidge (1859-1903) and Sarah Emily Churchill (1868-1930) and were both natives of Dorset.
When I first searched for details of their marriage I couldn't find it, and so just assumed that they didn't bother getting married and that that sort of thing was normal in those days.
However I've got much more into tracking down the family history in the last year, and realised that it was actually quite unusual for couples not to marry, especially if they lived outside of big cities and had family around them. Certainly I've had no trouble in finding the marriages of all of Henry and Sarah's various siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins.
In addition, my mother thinks that she saw their marriage in a parish records book several decades ago, but can't recall the details.
It's possibly that Sarah Emily changed her name when she became orphaned at age 11 or so and was looked after by various aunts and uncles. Details of her family's plight is touched upon in this online article which mentions what happened to three of her siblings:
https://myancestors.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/three-mullers-orphans/Henry's surname, Bowdidge, is spelt all sorts of ways in the various censuses. But I've tried every variation I can think of and even pored over every marriage for a Henry or Harry in Dorset and Devon between 1883 (when Sarah would have been 14/15) to 1887 (when their first child was born and christened) and beyond.
I'm not sure what to try next. The Dorset Family History Society looks promising - does anyone have any experience of that place? Does it offer access to records which aren't available online?
I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer.
