Did my great grandmother’s husband commit bigamy?
QMy great grandmother, Sarah Maskell, married Daniel James in Tudhoe, County Durham, in 1874. They had at least four children – Elijah Alexander, Charlotte Elizabeth, Ernest John and Thomas B – but separated in 1881–1882. Sarah then met my great grandfather William Lamb. Their first child, William Benjamin, was born in October
1884 in Kingswinford, Staffordshire.
Daniel married twice more – to Eliza Wilkes in 1892 and
Fannie Robinson in
1905 – claiming he was a widower! I’ve been unable to find divorce records for him. Was he a bigamist?
I’d also like to know where and when my great grandfather, William Lamb, was born. The 1891 census lists him as 38 and born in Stourbridge. In 1901, he is recorded as 47 and born in Wales. His death certificate in 1911 states he is 62.
Christine Couper
AIn the 1891 census, 39-year-old Daniel and his 14-year-old son Elijah live in Bilston, Staffordshire, boarding with the widowed Eliza Wilkes (aged 52), her five sons (aged 11–22) and her daughter (aged seven). I, too, could find no sign of Daniel in the divorce index on findmypast.co.uk.
Although there may have been no stigma attached to his second and third marriages, bigamy was a serious crime. Before 1813, a bigamist would have run the risk of the death penalty, although transportation was more likely. In 1861, transportation was replaced by up to seven years’ imprisonment. If Daniel had been caught after he had committed bigamy twice (‘trigamy’), he might have received the full seven years, or possibly 12 months’ hard labour.
On the other hand, William and Sarah would not have been committing bigamy by living as man and wife, providing they hadn’t gone through a ceremony of marriage. ‘Living in sin’ was not a criminal offence.
Regarding your great grandfather, I found a William Lamb in the 1881 census (aged 34) who was living in Stourbridge and whose place of birth was simply given as Wales. He was described as a “puddler” – puddling was the secondary smelting of pig iron to turn it into more flexible wrought iron. Your William is listed as an ironworker in the 1891 census, and a puddler in 1901.
The William in Stourbridge was married to an Ann (aged 33), and they had a daughter named Emily (aged 13). Could this be your William? In the 1871 census, the William in Stourbridge (aged 24) was already with Ann, and already a puddler. In this census, his place of birth was given as Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire (very close to the border with Wales).
Emily is not with them, but an Emily Jackson (aged three) is living with John and Sarah Jackson and their other eight children at the Old Dog and Partridge in Bilston. This Emily was born in Oldbury, Warwickshire, just like Emily Lamb. Could Emily Jackson have been a relative who was informally adopted by William and Ann?
In 1851, a widowed Mary Lamb (aged 63) is living in Oldswinford, Stourbridge, with her unmarried son William (29), a carpenter and joiner, and her grandson William (six). She is from “Montgomery, North Wales”, while the two Williams hail from “Kinton, Herefordshire” (probably
Kington, near the Welsh border). The 1861 census has Mary Lamb (73) and William (16), a coal miner, as boarders with Joseph Cooper and family in Kingswinford, near Stourbridge. Unfortunately, the bottomright-hand corner of the census page is missing, but it looks like “Wales, Welch N…” for Mary’s birthplace and “Kin…” for William’s. You may wish to check whether these are your people too. Alan Stewart
‘Before 1813, a bigamist ran the risk of the death penalty’