On 08/12/2014 11:17, Anne Chambers wrote: > David Marshall wrote: >> On 08/12/2014 10:49, Anne Chambers wrote: >>> David Marshall wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> My thanks to all who made suggestions. I am a little surprised that >>>> "lacemaker" would have been considered >>>> more prestigious than "Corporal in the Grenadier Guards" but maybe he >>>> just considered his military service a >>>> temporary episode in his life - he bought himself out and returned to >>>> lacemaking a couple of years later. >>>> >>>> David >>>> >>> A temporary aberration perhaps ? How long was he in the Army; had there >>> been any Army recruiting operations in the vicinity when he joined up ? >>> Did he sign up for xxx years and then have to wait until he could >>> leave? >>> >> He enlisted in his home town of Nottingham in January 1877 for 12 >> years and purchased his release for £9 in >> July 1885. I have not yet found out why the wedding was in Clewer. >> >> David >> > Have you found the bride in a previous census in England ? In the 1891 census her birthplace is just stated to be Ireland and I have not found her in 1881. In 1882 his battalion was in Ireland so maybe he met her there. David

> >> July 1885. I have not yet found out why the wedding was in Clewer. Clewer is on the doorstep of Windsor Barracks, and a lot of military marriages took place there. Possibly he was asked 'what's your job/ occupation? Being in the Army isn't exactly a 'job' in the usual sense. It sounds as uif the lady chased him from Ireland and perhaps needed to get married fast. There is the consideration that soldiers needed permission to marry (if they wanted their wives to be 'on the strength' so maybe he didn't wish to wait or to alert the Army to a marriage without prior permission. EVE Author of The McLaughlin Guides for Family Historians Secretary, Bucks Genealogical Society

David Marshall wrote: > On 08/12/2014 11:17, Anne Chambers wrote: >> David Marshall wrote: >>> On 08/12/2014 10:49, Anne Chambers wrote: >>> >> Have you found the bride in a previous census in England ? > In the 1891 census her birthplace is just stated to be Ireland and I have not found her in 1881. In 1882 his > battalion was in Ireland so maybe he met her there. > > David > When was their first child born ? Pwehaps she came over from Ireland because she was pregnant and needed to get married fast. -- Anne Chambers South Australia anne dot chambers at bigpond dot com