Hello, I am tracing the ancestral history of a friend. His greatgreatgrandparents, James Stewart and Joanne Hayton (or Hayter) were married at St.Mary’s Church at Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire on the 19th February 1828. I have been in touch with the Portsmouth History Centre and they tell me that the parish marriage entry said that James was a 'mariner". This means that he was a merchant seaman rather than being in the Royal Navy. His parish has been left blank, but Joanne is recorded as being of the parish of Portsea. They were married by banns, and the names of the witnesses were Mary Ann Hayter and William Stewart. Mary could have been her sister or mother and William his brother or father. There are no details given of Jame’s or Joanne’s birth place, age or parent’s names. His son was Frederick James Stewart and on Frederick’s Victorian, Australian Death Certificate the informant said that his father James was a Captain of an Admiral’s Yacht (or Adjutant). The actual wording is indistinct. It would seem to me that as Portsmouth has a Royal Navy base/establishment that he may have become a naval person after 1828. Can anyone help please? I have no further information about James or Joanne. Jeff