A
thread on the ENG-Kent-NWKFHS Roots-web message board has turned out to be two
fleet marriages (Clandestine marriages). It started with a found marriage in
1744 for the Non-Conformist listings (Fleet) and the groom’s occupation as a
labourer in what looks like ‘Ye K Yards’ from Welling. The same man was married in 1738, again at the
Fleet, and described as a Husbandman. The
suspicion is that the later marriage may have been bigamous because a woman of
the first wife’s name did not die until the mid-1745.
The
enquirer asked for help with these occupations and confirmation that divorces
were not available at that time.
Our
first thoughts were it was unclear if the Fleet mentioned was a Fleet prison
Clandestine Marriage or a parish in Hampshire, Kent or Lincolnshire. The suggestion
was some marriages in the Fleet Prison occurred because they were underage,
disapproved relationships or as possible in this case bigamous.
Ancestry
has a second series of clandestine marriages online and both sets need to be checked
to see if these parallel records have the same details.
Divorces
were not available at this time, unless one had money and could afford an act
of parliament or church courts to confirm it (see TNA leaflet on divorce law). For
poor people it was cheaper to sell the wife.
Occupation
'Husbandman' can be found in most occupation dictionaries, which applies to
farming, but Labourer in 'Ye K Yards' could be anything from Brick Yard, Ship
Yard or Timber Yard so a look at the original image was essential.
The
image confirmed it was a Fleet Prison marriage, not a parish called ‘Fleet’. It is important to be clear on locations. The
record actually said ‘Wickham’. The query is ‘East’ or ‘West’, but with a Welling,
Kent connection and other records, it was East Wickham.
The
groom was Hercules Manning who married Anne Knight on 3 October 1744.
Searching
for him in other marriage records turn up an earlier Fleet marriage on 7 Oct
1838 to Mary Layton. She, possibly, features in the St Michaels, East Wickham
burials in May 1745, after he married Anne.
Alternatively, was this a child of that name? In both of these marriages,
he is described as a widower although an earlier marriage for him in Kent has
not been found.
There
is a record of a marriage between Hercules Manning and Eleanor Mead in 1727 in
Buckland St Mary, Somerset. Could this be the same person? There does not seem
to be any record of the death of Eleanor and this raises the query did he clear
off, coming to Kent to start again. Was
he a double bigamist?
There
is a burial record of a Hercules Manning at East Wickham in 1780, aged 79 but without
finding a record of his baptism in Kent. Somerset record office said the register
covering baptisms 1642-1706 for Buckland St Mary is missing.
The
Fleet marriage image shows it is an 'R' rather than a 'K' so we have labourer
in 'Ye R Yard that we suspect is ‘Ye Rick Yard’. Work associated with farming but
not as ‘Husbandman’, which is more a farmer than a labourer.
A
sweep of the East Wickham area shows there are a few references to Hercules
Mannings from the mid-1700s to the 19th century. The family lived and worked in
an area that is contiguous to Welling, Bexley and Plumstead. These Hercules may
be him or his descendants.
A
check for any Settlement examinations might prove his birthplace. These started in 1697; they are usually in the
Archives, in this case a check on London Borough of Bexley, London metropolitan
Archives and the KCC archives is needed. Gillian Rickards wrote 'Kent
Settlement (Poor Law) Records: A Guide and Catalogue: Part 2: West Kent
(Diocese of Rochester), published in 1994 (NWKFHS Library ref QGR0014), which
may help the search.
The
Burial of Hercules Manning in1780 age 79 at East Wickham may be him. His wives
are from Greenwich and Woolwich, which confirmed the need to look in the East
Wickham contiguous parishes for their burials and baptisms of their children.
There is a Hercules Manning, son of Hercules Manning (no wife's name given)
baptised 15 June 1748 at East Wickham and Elizabeth Manning baptised 18 October
1745 daughter of Hercules and Ann Manning. East Wickham registers start in 1730
so one needs to look at the contiguous parishes for earlier records.
A
Will for Hercules has yet to be sought.
We
hope this summary of the thread on this NWKFHS blog might generate ideas from
others' as well as on message board. If you have any ideas please comment
below.
