where has Caroline Weller got to?

[rosie99]

There's another puzzle, that Sophia Francis was born Sophia Webb.  I think she took a stepfather's surname. 

Have you considered this birth for Sophia 

FRANCIS, SOPHIA    mmn    FROUD 
GRO Reference: 1846  March Quarter in WANTAGE UNION reg district  Volume 06  Page 295
 

Siblings
FRANCIS, HENRY       mmn FROUD 
1861  Mar Quarter in WANTAGE  Volume 02C  Page 281

FRANCIS, GEORGE  HENRY     mmn FROUD 
1856  Sept Quarter in WANTAGE  Volume 02C  Page 262

FRANCIS, JOHN       mmn FROUD 
1848  June Quarter in WANTAGE UNION  Volume 06  Page 271
..

In 1871 Sophia is 25 and Edith E is 2.  Edith E is described as daughter of the head of the house 
RG10/1267 Folio 12 Page   16

Could this be Edith E, a possible illegitimate birth.  Could she be Sophia's daughter
FRANCIS, EDITH  EMILY     - 
1869  June Quarter in WANTAGE  Volume 02C  Page 273
Ignore this one she died in 1875

In 1881 Sophia also has an Edith Francis there though age is slightly out.  Sophias age fluctuates and her place of birth varies between Didcot & Wantage.

[tazzie]

Both the marriage licences are on Ancestry...

 On first marriage both state ages are 21 and upwards and that Caroline was of the parish of ST Mary Islington. Caroline surname had been spelt wrongly as Beller which was crossed through.
 On the second again both state 21 years of upwards and the bride is entered as Sophia Webb otherwise Francis.

  Tazzie

[HughC]

Rosie,

I'm sure you were trying to help, though I'm sorry to say it doesn't.

Sophia, daughter of William Webb, farmer, was born in Didcot on 22 Apr. 1840 and is thought to be the one whose birth was registered in Wallingford district.  She claimed to be 40 in the 1891 census, but women are notorious for fibbing about their age!  She died at 37 Windmill Road, Hampton Hill, on 16 June 1920 (death registered in Kingston on Thames) and was buried by Denny's brother Jack at St James, Hampton Hill, on the 18th.

But she's not the wife I was asking about.

And thank you, Tazzie: I have images of both marriage register entries (probably bishop's transcripts), which say basically the same as the licences.

[Mabel Bagshawe]

There's another puzzle, that Sophia Francis was born Sophia Webb.  I think she took a stepfather's surname. 

Have you considered this birth for Sophia 

FRANCIS, SOPHIA    mmn    FROUD 
GRO Reference: 1846  March Quarter in WANTAGE UNION reg district  Volume 06  Page 295
 

Siblings
FRANCIS, HENRY       mmn FROUD 
1861  Mar Quarter in WANTAGE  Volume 02C  Page 281

FRANCIS, GEORGE  HENRY     mmn FROUD 
1856  Sept Quarter in WANTAGE  Volume 02C  Page 262

FRANCIS, JOHN       mmn FROUD 
1848  June Quarter in WANTAGE UNION  Volume 06  Page 271
..

In 1871 Sophia is 25 and Edith E is 2.  Edith E is described as daughter of the head of the house 
RG10/1267 Folio 12 Page   16

Could this be Edith E, a possible illegitimate birth.  Could she be Sophia's daughter
FRANCIS, EDITH  EMILY     - 
1869  June Quarter in WANTAGE  Volume 02C  Page 273
Ignore this one she died in 1875

In 1881 Sophia also has an Edith Francis there though age is slightly out.  Sophias age fluctuates and her place of birth varies between Didcot & Wantage.

Do you mean ignore Edith or Sophia?  There's actually potential deaths for both in Wantage in 1875  (Q3 and Q4 respectively) - Sophia aged 29, so fits

[rosie99]

Rosie,

I'm sure you were trying to help, though I'm sorry to say it doesn't.

I realise that now    It would have been handy to have the marriage information in your post where it gave her alternative name rather than just mentioning There's another puzzle, that Sophia Francis was born Sophia Webb.  I think she took a stepfather's surname.  [/b]

Mabel you will need to ignore the whole post as I was apparently on the wrong track 

[HughC]

Sorry, Rosie.  I should never have mentioned Sophia.

[rosie99]

But it did keep me occupied for a while which has to be a good thing 

I still can't locate Caroline 

[jorose]

Who were the witnesses at the marriage of Denison and Caroline?
What do you know of Denison's employment between 1871 and 1881 - where was he living in these years?

One possibility is that she died before 1881 but in an unexpected location - visiting family overseas, for example.

I don't see any divorce at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ but of course they may well have separated informally.

[HughC]

Witnesses Henry Bilby and Catherine Smith.

In 1871 he was a "clerk shipping" living at 6 Seymour Place, Marylebone.
In 1881 he was a government clerk (I know from another source that it was at the GPO) living at Market House, Norwood.
I don't know when he changed jobs or moved house, or whether he had other jobs or abodes in the meantime.

Thanks for checking whether there was a divorce: I wouldn't have known where to look.
I imagine that dozens of people called Caroline Wilkinson will have died, so it wouldn't tell us much.  And we can't exclude the possibility that he was a bigamist.