I have in front of me 2 marriage certificates, one dated 1916 and one dated 1921. On both marriage certificates the grooms name and the brides name are the same. First marriage in York 29th May 1916 register office. Second in Chorlton Manchester dated 16th March 1921. On both the grooms name is George Sargeant bachelor, age given in 1916 as 38. Brides name Frances Parkinson Mayer spinster, age given in 1916 26. Grooms father's name George Sargeant antique dealer. Brides father's name George Cruickshank Mayer Musician. 1921 marriage, ages are now George Sargeant is now 43, widower, father's name the same but is now a house dealer, Frances Parkinson Mayer is 34 and a widow, father is George Cruickshank and a musician. I think the first of these marriages is bigamist marriage. My grt. Aunt Frances Parkinson Cruickshank was born March 1887. She married in 1908 Samuel Elijah Mayer, he was in the tunnelling corps in WW1 and had a citation of the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was killed in action April 17th 1916. I have checked to try and find out how long news of his death would have taken to reach home and several factors of identification could have taken a while. I have found a Frances Mayer b. 1890 which fits the age on the first marriage certificate, however, no same middle name, also found her married to another person in Staffordshire. The only common ground I can find is the area in which both lived, George Cruickshank had moved his family down from Sunderland and in 1901 is on the census for Warrington Lancs. Frances is 14 on this census. I have found George Sargeant in 1901 in Ince in Makerfield which is within the area, I found a marriage for him in 1900 in Wigan and Leigh Register office. The question is have I found a bigamist marriage (assuming the bride didn't know her husband was already dead - well she wouldn't have put spinster if she had known?) Who is this George Sargeant? Did they run away together? Can anyone shed any light on this or have I got it completely wrong?
Vonny.
Vonny.
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