If Annie’s daughter has got a copy of Annie’s marriage certificate, can she let you know all the details from it. Thomas Wilson’s occupation could be a big clue in answering your questions. And the names of the witnesses could be useful, too. Annie’s birthdate wouldn’t have been on the marriage cert (unless she had a 3rd marriage in a country where that particular piece of information is required). So 25th Dec 1902 probably came from the death certificate. The person who registers the death provides that information to the registrar, but there can be a question mark over the birth year if the person who has died had chosen to go through adult life using an “adjusted age” (usually younger than true age). The bit that’s not in doubt is the “25th December” since Christmas Day is a pretty memorable date !
Another possibility is that Annie’s birth was illegitimate (her birth would have been registered using her birth mother’s surname, and subsequently Annie’s official name would have been her biological father’s name---if known)
When Annie married John Duff in 1926 she gave her father’s name as Thomas Wilson. Some possibilities:
1) she was a legitimate daughter of Thomas Wilson.
2) she was an illegitimate daughter of Thomas Wilson.
3) she was illegitimate/father unknown, brought up as Annie Wilson, and gave a made-up name for her father at the time of her marriage (not an uncommon occurrence)
Another possibility concerning 24 yr old Annie’s marriage to 78 yr old widower John Duff on 24th July 1926 ------ she was pregnant since William Robert Howard Duff was born the same year. So it may have been a marriage of convenience; the baby’s biological father could have been a different man, and John Duff was perhaps just “making an honest woman” of Annie, in exchange for Annie taking on the care of John in his twilight years.
The name “Howard” could well be strongly significant. Some possibilities:
1) the surname of William Robert Howard Duff’s biological father
2) the surname of Annie’s mother
Jean C
PS----I was about to post this and just read your last message. Does the Grenaby House information come via Audrey ?