Spouse's surname same as husband? [closed]

Question

My great grandfather, Albert Dowding, had been married three times before his death in 1990. According to the England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, his first and second wife's surnames are recorded as "Mimms" and "Brown" respectively, which is correct. However, his third wife's surname is recorded as "Dowding".

I wouldn't expect anyone to know the exact reason but would anyone have any idea why her maiden surname would have been recorded like this when it almost certainly wasn't?

Thanks.

Comments

The simplest explanation is that her name was Dowding. Perhaps she was his brother's widow or something similar. You can order a copy of the marriage certificate for a modest fee.

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Maiden surname doesn't appear in marriage indexes.

On the actual cert, the nearest you get is father's name, but that's not always quite the same thing.  People often fibbed about their fathers.  Often you get a combination of the father's real first name and the bride's surname.

The bride would go by whatever name she was using, usually the previous husband's if she was a widow.  This is the name used for indexing, and the index doesn't show widowed status.

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Her maiden name almost certainly wasn't Dowding. The marriage indexes list surnames before marriage - therefore it shouldn't be shown as Dowding.

https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3A%22Albert%20S%22%20%2Bsurname%3ADowding

She wasn't married to any of Albert's relatives either and there no birth records suggesting that she was born a Dowding and just happened to be completely unrelated to Albert.

The only possibility I can think of is either she had been married to an unrelated Dowding beforehand (although that seems highly unlikely given that it's not exactly a common surname) or that an error was made during the indexing process (maybe when they got married there was a miscommunication or misunderstanding and her surname was recorded wrong?). Another possibility is if she started using the name Dowding before she actually got married would that cause them record her surname as Dowding?

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It's not just "them" as the register is signed in duplicate by the couple and two witnesses at the wedding.  The indexers only know what's written on the copy they get sent.

I suppose if the bride uses the groom's name before the wedding she should sign with that, though I can't say I've heard of it.

It does raise a question (not in this case) of how you call the banns for a couple who live as husband and wife for years and then decide to get married.

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For now, based on what I know, I'm going to assume she started using the name before they actually got married and wrote that down on the marriage certificate. Either that or she didn't realise she was supposed to write her maiden/current surname on the register. You say you haven't heard of it but they were all a little bit odd. Thanks anyway.

Answer 1

And the mystery is solved! I was looking through the 1939 England Register earlier. If you don't know, the register has the surname at the time it was taken but was kept updated up until the 1990s, meaning every time a woman got married they corrected the surname on the register.

Albert and Irene got married during the 1980s. In the same area of Yorkshire that the two got married in, in 1939, there was someone roughly Albert's age (a bit older) called Irene Oversby - the record was later updated to read "Irene Dowding" instead. I believe this person to be Albert's third wife as all the details about her - such as not having a middle name and living in the right area - match up with what I know about Albert's Irene.

The only mystery remaining now is why her marriage record reads "Dowding". There are no previous marriage records to suggest she married any other Dowdings, and the register only has "Dowding" and "Oversby", which suggests that Albert was her first husband. All I can presume is that something went wrong when they got married.

Answer 2

It could be just a simple error.

Answer 3

Why couldn't she be a Dowding also? Maybe a cousin marriage? (my great grandparents are George Edgcombe and Mary Ann Edgcombe - cousins.)

Comments

Cousin marriages - especially for a second, 3rd or greater cousin were not too unusual back then.

You just need to do the family tree and find the MRCA for both of them to determine how close they were.

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She definitely wasn't a cousin. I thought that initially but looking into plus getting into contact with relatives who knew him more than I did confirm that he didn't marry any cousins.

Answer 4

The sites I use for UK marriage records only provide full details for 1983 and earlier citing a 35 year limit. I would suggest looking at it again after the new year as more information might be added.

Comments

Hi, what sites do you use for UK marriage records? I use FamilySearch, it seems to go up to 2005 with no limitations. Will try again after new year.

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My go-to site for England and Wales is FreeBMD located HERE. I also use the UK GRO located HERE but find it somewhat cumbersome.

For Scotland - ScotlandsPeople which requires payment to download docs.

For Northern Ireland - GRONI - another pay as you go site

Happy hunting.

Answer 5

For what it's worth there's a register of birth 1987 Edward J Dowding Eastbourne, mother's maiden surname Crane. Might be nothing to do with them, though

Comments

Yes Edward was Albert’s brother (though he was born 1922 Eastbourne, not 1987). He isn’t related to Albert’s third wife, though. Thanks anyway.

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Can't even read what I'm seeing. Of course.

Answer 6

I have that in my tree in two different branches as well, that happens. They might have been (not so) distant cousins.

Answer 7

She could have been widow. I searched Findmypast with surname only for him and Irene no surname. This is just one result 

ALBERT E
Last name	DOWDING
Marriage quarter	4
Marriage year	1952
Registration month	-
MarriageFinder ™	ALBERT E DOWDING married one of these people Irene Paisey
Spouse's last name	Paisey
District	Bristol
District number	-
County	Gloucestershire
Country	England
Volume	7B
Volume as transcribed	7B
Page number	244
Record set	England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005
Category	Life Events (BDMs)
Subcategory	Civil Marriage & Divorce
Collections from	Great Britain, England

Comments

Thanks but that record is for the wrong people. My Albert Dowding has the middle initial S, not E, and he married his third wife in 1984... that record dates to before he married his second wife in 1956.

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I was trying to show you that she could have married another (unrelated) Dowding at an earlier date and therefore could be Dowding when she married your Dowding

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Ah I see. I considered that at first but with Dowding being a fairly uncommon surname it seemed unlikely. Still a possibility I guess. Thanks.