Interesting - bigamy !! - a challenge

Question

I found this interesting.

I came across this while researching John Temple, who was a brother of Sir Richard Temple MP.  Where he is mentioned in a pedigree there is a comment 'married several times'.  But in the Calendar of State Papers, Charles II there is an entry in 1667

Coventry, Jan 14: John Temple, brother to Sir Richard, is in gaol, having or having had 17 wives

Later in 1669 there is another entry

Aug 29: Reprieve for John Temple, should he be sentenced to be burnt in the hand for polygamy

I haven't yet managed to find any of the ladies to whom he was married - John Temple seems to be quite a common name - but it would be an interesting challenge!

Comments

Don't you just love finding things like that? Someone I was researching was called a "cozening cheating knave". It all makes it so much more interesting!

Answer 1

You would think you'd be able to find at least one of the Seventeen! unless his occupation was 'Sailor' and he had a wife in every port.

Comments

The problem is that there are marriages to John Temples, but none that I can associate with this particular John Temple.  And there is a John Temple at this time who was a naval officer but I do not know if it  was this one.

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oops said in jest! I just had  quick look - He was baptised in Buckinghamshire, only one marriage there and its after (1667) but plenty in London / Midddlesex that are feasible (Where the children of his Brother were baptised) but without being able to see the originals and maybe a reference to his Father or Brother (witnesses / bonds / notices) its impossible to tell which ones but maybe they all are (well there are about 17)

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and I would guess if they are bigamous then they are less likely to have family members supporting as witnesses etc,

Answer 2

It doesn't really help unless you can get to the National Archives and look at the actual document, but this looks like it may be the same family and might possibly name a wife or child https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5666978

Answer 3

17! I can't find the energy to make my bed in the morning, and this man had the time and energy to have 17 wives. How did he even keep them all straight? Does one even bother memorizing all the names or just call them all "honey" so as not to get caught?

And to think I was scandalize another another court case from this period -- another sailor no less! -- who was charged with "seducing" two different men on the same voyage.

Answer 4

This bigamy case seems to have been successfully kept from public view. I can't find any mention of it elsewhere. If known, there would surely be a contemporary pamphlet or broadside ballad about it. Just as now, people in the 17th century  loved a  scandal. 

I can't even find a modern mention of the case.  What does come up  (e g. Capp, Bigamous Marriage in Early Modern England  Warwick University pdf if the link  works ) is an Old Bailey case from 10 years later. In  1676  an anonymous shoemaker was also reputed to have married 17 times. The shoemaker was said to have  ' pretended to be a person of quality'  whilst 'assuming the names of good families'. 

I imagine, that John Temple would also have assumed various names for his various marriages. Even if he used his own name,  I doubt that they would have taken place in normal parish churches with banns or licence and witnesses. In this period a lot of marriages were clandestine and or irregular. All you needed were willing partners and a compliant clergyman. https://www.familyhistory.co.uk/parish-records/fleet-marriages/  They didn't always take place in 'the fleet'. There were various churches around the country where the vicar was known to conduct such marriages. I also know of one case where a highly respectable rural rector conducted the marriage of a wealthy widow to a fortune hunter. The widow had been plied with spiked alcohol and the wedding took place in a South London pub.https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5568691

Comments

Thank you for that, the paper by Capp is interesting.  I will see if there are any court or prison records for Coventry that can add anything.