Finally Found their Marriage!
Honor Elizabeth Card (1805-1888) married Thomas Hobbs in 1823 at St Anne Limehouse, London. They had several children and then Thomas died in Bermondsey in May 1837. In the 1841 and 1851 censuses Honor Elizabeth is recorded as the wife of Robert Summers. The couple had two daughters, who, calculating from the censuses were born about 1839 (Amelia) and 1845 (Emma). Robert died in 1858 leaving a life interest in his property to his dear wife.
I looked for Honor Elizabeth and Robert's marriage for years. In pre-internet days this involved plowing through many reels of microfilmed English marriage indexes without success. Of course, not everybody managed to get married in time for arrival of children, but even generous online search parameters did not help. Then one day, I omitted to include any years to be searched, and presto, there it was: Honor Elizabeth Hobbs finally got married to Robert Summers in 1856! |  | Finally Found their Daughters' Christenings
Both Amelia and Emma were christened in 1853 at Bermondsey St James, in Southwark. Thankfully, there is a margin note giving the date of birth - you can see here that Emma was born 13 October 1845. Neither Emma nor Amelia's births were registered, which was not uncommon in those days. Perhaps making a false declaration to the church as well as to the registrar's office was too much to contemplate. |  | Always note down the Marriage witnesses:
Here is the 1823 marriage record of Thomas Hobbs and Honor Elizabeth Card. Being pre 1837, it does not include helpful information such as who their fathers were. But the names of the witnesses William & Sarah Blay provide a valuable clue: |  | | William Blay married Ann Sarah Card in 1815 at Hackney St John. One witness was a W. Wyatt. A little digging confirmed my hunch that Ann Sarah and Honor Elizabeth were sisters; both christened at St Andrew Holborn, daughters of Thomas Card and Sarah Lee Wyatt. Thomas Card left gifts to his children in his Will, and his occupation is recorded as "tripeman" - which I found out was a type of butcher. |  | Can't get a divorce? No problem: Just get married again in another parish.
William and Sarah Blay's marriage was unhappy. They had several children and over the years, as each child was christened, William's occupation went from Schoolmaster, to Tripe Dresser to Brush Maker. Perhaps alcohol was the problem. In any event, Sarah met Mark Wing and they had a daughter named Martha. Martha's birth was not registered under Wing nor Blay. Martha Wing was christened in 1859, and born in 1841. In 1842, Sarah and Mark wanted respectability, and Sarah "married" Mark Wing under her maiden name, Sarah Card. Not so very long ago, divorce was only for the rich who could obtain a Private Act of Parliament. |  | | Fortunately for Sarah, William Blay died in 1843. In 1844 Sarah and Mark Blay got married again, this time properly :) |  |
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