Why can’t I find my great grandparent’s marriage?
QI’m trying to find out more about my paternal great grandmother, Henrietta Jones.
The 1911 census shows James Henry Jones, Henrietta and their children living at 10 Wade’s Place, Mile End, London, and stated Henrietta was born in Liverpool. However, I cannot trace Henrietta any further back.
I found a record of a Henrietta Tryer born in Liverpool in November 1871, but I can’t find a marriage record to check it. Can you help?
Steven Everton
AThe General Register Office’s (GRO’s) own website https://www.gro.gov.uk is a useful, but sometimes overlooked, source for finding a mother’s former surname. This information is currently absent from other indexes until 1911, but the GRO birth index displays it from 1837 onwards (Findmypast findmypast.co.uk is gradually adding mothers’ former surnames to its database).
Using this index, I found births that matched the two youngest children listed in the 1911 census, registered at Mile
End; both with a mother’s former surname of Collins. Further searches found likely registrations for the older children at West Derby/Liverpool; again the mother’s name was Collins. Armed with a possible surname for Henrietta, an unsuccessful search was made for her marriage to James Henry. Detective work is often needed to smash a brick wall. In looking for Henrietta in the 1891 census, a possible entry was found at Everton. George Collins, brother-in-law, and Henrietta Collins, sister, were living in a large household. Although clearly related, the other occupants had different surnames; these included Tyrer, which is similar to that of Henrietta Tryer whose birth you have found. Listed immediately after George and Henrietta is an infant, Maria Delve. Many Liverpool marriages are on Ancestry ( ancestry.co.uk), including that of Henrietta Tyrer, daughter of Edward Tyrer, to John Delve at St Peter’s Church, Liverpool, in 1889. John’s death was registered in the March quarter of 1891, and on 22 March 1891 Henrietta Delve married George Collins at St Ambrose’s, Everton.
According to the 1911 census, James Henry and Henrietta married in about 1893. However, despite trying all of Henrietta’s known surnames, I was not able to find a record of their marriage.
Since there appears to be no registration of George Collins’ death, it is likely that George and Henrietta separated and she then set up home with James Henry.