Hi Frances,

Sorry I do not have witnesses, and yes, I was surprised to find the wedding in Liverpool. There seems to be not the slightest hint of family disapproval, in fact the opposite. High Bailiff LaMothe had a detailed account of the LaMothe side handed down to him, but my mother, who did not know of the LaMothe account, had a version that confirmed many details quite independently, but told much more of the Corrin story, inc Sukie's visit to gaol to see Dominic, though we did not know of the chaperones ! That story would have come down to us via her brother William, of course, so William had no problems with it, and the fact that Sophia was a witness at her cousin, Henry Corrin's wedding in 1793 suggests that William's family remained on good terms with the LaMothes. Quay House passed from Thos Quay & Eliz Friend to Henry Corrin and Susanna Quay/Corrin and then to Dominique LaMothe and Sukie Corrin. Finally the legend is quite specific, that SUKIE, rather than her father, masterminded the plan, but that Henry was dispatched to see Governor Cochrane. This would make sense, as Henry was a leading merchant in the town and Cochrane was well disposed to the merchants, and with Henry's connections with the Stevensons of Balladoole and the Christians of Milntown, he was very well connected to the official set. There is no trace of any family resentment. Indeed, Sukie and her father seem to have acted as a very capable double act in sorting things out. I can't prove this, but I suspect that Amy Stevenson, who must have had a gift with words played a role although she had been dead for a decade. For the legends of armour and Milntown to have lived in the family for so long, and with such vividness, they had to mean a lot to someone, and Amy is the obvious candidate. I suspect that she would have sat with the grandchildren telling them of her father Captain John Stevenson drilling the garrison at Peel, and probably inspiring both children with images of the military elite from which she was descended. That military connection survived through to my mother's day, and she had great pride that she had served in the QAs, (Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service). Although she spent most of her time in battledress, we have a photo of her in the regular starched dress whites of the QAs. If Amy had that effect that far in the future, it is possible that she had enthralled Sukie with accounts of the dash and splendour of the military, and when a handsome young naval officer walked thru the door .... !!!!

I think Sukie was probably predisposed by her grandma to see the military life as glamorous, and then it all happens. If there had been opposition from Henry Corrin, I cannot see that the legend would have been handed down in the form it was, as it shows father and daughter working together very competently. I do not see Suzanna Quay as a problem either. The Sukie story suggests that unlike the strong willed and explosive Amy, that SQ was a calm good natured mother, and her father Thomas Quay had himself been a soldier.

One possibility is that Dominique had decided to take Sukie to meet his family in Bayonne, but John Quayle's chatty letter to Basil Cochrane implies that he returned to his wife in Sept 1763, suggesting she was in the IOM by then. Maybe the couple had decided to go to France and they realised that Sukie was pregnant, so Dominique decided that a trip in that delicate state might not be a good idea.
That is pure surmise.

Another possibility that comes to mind is the religious issue. Dominique, being French, was probably Catholic. How would a marriage between a catholic and an anglican be accepted in the IOM in the 1760s by the church authorities ? Would there have been problems. I do not know enough about the attitude of the ecclesiastical authorities, but maybe it was easier for them to marry in Liverpool.

Whatever the result, it is a delightful story. I have just completed a book for Colin & Gwynneth Brown on the Isle of Man and the Sea, and whilst most chapters are shipping related, I decided to open the book with the story of Dominique and Sukie, as it is as good as any paperback romance, and true. What novellist would dare have a POW about to be carted off to a prison ship by the Royal Navy, when his 21 year old girlfriend steps in and does what the French Navy could not do, and defeats the power of the RN. Throw in hostility from a local bigwig, the governor and his lady, and the story is about as good as it gets !

As an aside, Sukie was Amy's grand daughter, and my motehr was also one of Amy's girls, and she took on a Nazi spy in Egypt in the last weeks of peace in 1939, and four years later, decided to join the army. When you join the army, they decide where to post you. My mother, with endorsement from the Director of Medical Services, to Middle East Forces and the Director of Military Intelligence, as the latter had not forgotten the spy business, joined the army on condition that she was posted to Italy, which the Allies had not yet invaded. The matron, confronted with the firepower my mother had amassed, obviously had a sense of humour and agreed to the posting on condition that the Aliies did invade Italy, adding with a sigh that if Mrs Hendry had decided to invade Italy, she supposed that the Chiefs of the General staff had no more say in the matter than she did !! I always liked the sound of that Matron, as she must have had a great sense of humour.

best wishes

Robert