Hello to all, from a wet and grey Norfolk (Eng)!
I have just received a reply from the civil registry office, to my request for the marriage certificate for my Great Aunt Lily to Geoffrey Lace - and there appears to be no such certificate.
Unfortunately, I don't have my folder with me, but someone (Len? - sorry if that's wrong!) very kindly posted an extract from McCambridge's book on Andreas, which includes a mention of Geoffrey and his wife Lily moving into the cottage at the Lhen in 1946. Apart from this, and the fact that I met Lily many times as a child, I have no other evidence she ever existed!
My main reason for this particular search, is to discover who Lily's parents were. She was known, prior to her marriage, as Starkey, but as those of you who have seen my earlier posts, and responses will know, I had several relatives who went by the name Starkey, but turned out to be Heaney's in reality!
Nevertheless, I have been unable to find Lily under either name. The best guess I have, is that she may have been a later daughter of John James Starkey (Maughold) as I have both a birth and death certificate for a Lily May Starkey (d. aged 4 months f. JJ Starkey) and it seemed common practice to name subsequent children after one who had previously died.
However, this is just a guess, and as I have been unable to get either a birth or marriage cert for my Lily, I am unable so far to link her into my rather complicated family!
It seems Geoff was from Andreas, and Lily from Maughold (an assumption based solely on the fact that my other Starkey's were Maughold based). I recently read that marriages usually took place in the bride's parish, but it would seem the Laces were somewhat more 'monied' than the Starkey's, so is it possible they married in Andreas? Does anyone have access to Andreas parish records? Of course they may well have married in Maughold.....
As to dates - this is tricky, because of course, I don't have Lily's DoB, but I'm fairly sure she would have been born post 1901. And then, as we know, she was definitely married to Geoff by 1946 when they moved to the Lhen, so I realise it's a huge timespan, but if anyone has any ideas, theories or information, as always, I'd be very grateful!
Happy New Year to all
Maggie