Searching for a secret marriage in France - early 1900s

[joger]

I found no marriage in the tables 1903 1912 .

If he was married his wife may have died before him .

Should check the births .

[ShaunJ]

There are several public trees that have WRA's first marriage to Lydia Rose Duncombe in Rochford, Essex in 1917; some have a child Francis born 1918 in Stoke on Trent (died 1920). Lydia Rose Allen appears to have died in Stoke in 1918 aged 23

How much of all that is guesswork and/or surmise, I don't know

[MollyC]

... his brother Jack listed himself as a "widow" on his M/C to his second wife, when in actual fact he was divorced!

I had come across a similar thing on a C. of E. marriage cert. in 1919.  I found out quite recently, probably from RootsChat, that at the time it was legal to do so!  Possibly changed in 1928.

[joger]

Have you checked the marriages at the British Embassy in Paris?

[joger]

There are several public trees that have WRA's first marriage to Lydia Rose Duncombe in Rochford, Essex in 1917; some have a child Francis born 1918 in Stoke on Trent (died 1920). Lydia Rose Allen appears to have died in Stoke in 1918 aged 23

How much of all that is guesswork and/or surmise, I don't know

Yes, freebmd has a Francis W Allen born 1918 mother's maiden name Duncombe. Worth checking the certificate to see if the father's first names are William Ruskin ?

[giblet]

You have him returning and marrying, therefore some of the information on the below has errors as according to the below info he died 1915. Maybe the part about informing his daughter in law is a error as well??

From the link you provided
quote" Photocopied ts transcription (5pp) of extracts from letters written home by Private P H Allen during his service with the 10th Battalion Alberta Regiment, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) on the Western Front, May 1915, containing graphic descriptions of his involvement in the Second Battle of Ypres, just before his death in action on 22 May 1915; together with a photocopied ms letter (1p) from J W Allen informing his daughter-in-law that her husband, Captain William Ruskin Allen, has been reported missing in action and advising her to "keep a stiff upper lip", plus a photograph of Captain Allen in a German prisoner of war camp."

[aghadowey]

Is it not Private P. H. Allen who died on 22 May 1915?

letters written home by Private P H Allen during his service with the 10th Battalion Alberta Regiment, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) on the Western Front, May 1915, containing graphic descriptions of his involvement in the Second Battle of Ypres, just before his death in action on 22 May 1915

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1564616/percy-henry-allen/

[giblet]

Is it not Private P. H. Allen who died on 22 May 1915?

letters written home by Private P H Allen during his service with the 10th Battalion Alberta Regiment, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) on the Western Front, May 1915, containing graphic descriptions of his involvement in the Second Battle of Ypres, just before his death in action on 22 May 1915

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1564616/percy-henry-allen/

Arh im with you now, if i had read it right the first time, the "together with" should have told me 2 different lots of info in together. Thanks

[aghadowey]

It is all a bit confusing, giblet.

According to the summary (link provided in original post here) "together with a photocopied ms letter (1p) from J W Allen informing his daughter-in-law that her husband, Captain William Ruskin Allen, has been reported missing in action and advising her to "keep a stiff upper lip", plus a photograph of Captain Allen in a German prisoner of war camp." If P.H. Allen died in 1915 and W.R. Allen was taken P.O.W. in 1918 then the photo in German camp had to have been added to the other papers after P.H. Allen died.

The missing letter seems to have been in P.H. Allen's paper's but it also could have been put with his letters after he died in 1915. If that's the case then could the bride from the 1917 marriage (Lydia Jane Duncombe) have been the daughter-in-law mentioned? It looks like she gave birth to a son but died 1918 (influenza perhaps?). Perhaps either his wife died shortly before he became a P.O.W. or that he originally listed his father as next of kin and it wasn't changed when he married.

See reply #18 for information which rules out wife being Lydia Jane Duncombe.