My grandfather was William Arthur Houghton born in 1904. On purchasing a copy of his birth certificate it confirmed the details of his parents to be Arthur William Houghton and Lillie Houghton nee Newton as expected.
However no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t find any record of a marriage for Arthur and Lillie. I knew Arthur was in the army as it was shown on the birth certificate. So using ancestry.co.uk I located his WW1 service record. Working through all 60 pages I discovered the army were pressing for his marriage certificate to confirm he had married on the 8th April 1901 as he had stated.
Several communications later it’s revealed that Arthur’s name at the time of the marriage was David William Newton and that Lillie was in fact Lillie Houghton!
On checking the BMD Index I can find a marriage matching these details and date. If I was to order a copy of the certificate would it provided any information as the why the couple took the Lillie's surname? Is there any way I can find out why my grandfather changed his name? I can’t see how a David could be know as Arthur!?
I’m totally amazed and stumped by this information and would welcome some advice, I don’t want to go totally off in the wrong direction and research a red herring!
However no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t find any record of a marriage for Arthur and Lillie. I knew Arthur was in the army as it was shown on the birth certificate. So using ancestry.co.uk I located his WW1 service record. Working through all 60 pages I discovered the army were pressing for his marriage certificate to confirm he had married on the 8th April 1901 as he had stated.
Several communications later it’s revealed that Arthur’s name at the time of the marriage was David William Newton and that Lillie was in fact Lillie Houghton!
On checking the BMD Index I can find a marriage matching these details and date. If I was to order a copy of the certificate would it provided any information as the why the couple took the Lillie's surname? Is there any way I can find out why my grandfather changed his name? I can’t see how a David could be know as Arthur!?
I’m totally amazed and stumped by this information and would welcome some advice, I don’t want to go totally off in the wrong direction and research a red herring!
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