Hi Maggie, Obviously clerical errors may play a part here, but there is only one entry for a Crowther/Broadbent marriage in that time period and it is the one of Irving in 1914. My husband's grandmother had her first child to his grandfather 2 years before they married. The birth certificate was filled out as though they were already an official couple, with the child carrying the father's surname, and it is possible that this MAY have happened in this family's case. There are a couple of hits for Irvin Crowthers in the telephone directories, although other than addresses, it won't give you much else. Regards, Sally > Thank you, Sally: yes, I've got all these births noted but they seem to me (without spending money on certificates) to be a different Crowther-Broadbent family. Irving married Ethel on Boxing Day 1914 in Sowerby, Halifax but they immediately went to live in Newcastle, so I'd expect births to be there. Certainly the 1912 one isn't to my couple, implying that there certainly was at least one more such family. I didn't find any name pattern for either Irving's nor Ethel's families, either, so these names are on the back boiler. > > I went through all the military records to tie in with any Irving Crowthers (I know of around 8-10 in the period), and none of them fit. There was even one Irving who was practically a neighbour, if you can call Northowram and Ovenden neighbours, but completely unrelated. Another ended up in Trenton New Jersey as a potter!! > > Right now I'm pinning my hopes on that death in York, and maybe I'll check out if there was a will, that might be the simplest way forward. >