Hannah Slater was born in the Derbyshire village of Kirk Ireton in 1842. In 1864 she married William Holyland in Ashbourne and their daughter was born the following day but lived only a few weeks. William subsequently joined the army and, many years later, remarried, but there was no record of Hannah’s death. Neither did any of the subsequent censuses include a Hannah Holyland of her age and birthplace. What had happened to her?
I realised that my spreadsheets contained another possible clue - a mystery Holyland baptism. On September 15 1867 Joseph Holyland was baptised in Kirk Ireton, with his mother’s name given as Hannah and no father named. Joseph (“an infant”) was buried just 5 days later. Surely this had to be connected?
The plot thickened with the realisation that there is neither birth nor death listed on freeBMD for Joseph Holyland at this time and place. There is however the birth and death of Joseph SLATER (Hannah’s maiden name), with no mother’s maiden name shown. Was this the same Joseph? Was Hannah now using her maiden name again? Had the parish priest chosen to override this and to christen and bury her son using Hannah’s married name? As Hannah had “made her mark” on her marriage certificate, perhaps she was unable to read the church register entry showing her son as Holyland.
Was Joseph actually William’s son? Given that William had enlisted for the army in Liverpool 10 months earlier, he may well not have been; but it cannot be ruled out, as William and Hannah’s first child was not baptised until 2 months old. If Hannah had delayed Joseph’s baptism similarly, his conception could have been a parting gift from a departing husband!
Of course, since Hannah’s first child was born the day after her wedding to William, it’s quite possible that she was not William’s genetic child either.
I suspect that Hannah appears under her maiden name in the 1871 census, working as a dairy maid in Idridgehay, just 2 miles from Kirk Ireton –and apparently single. What is certain is that on Feb 19 1876, Hannah Slater, a farm servant and (allegedly!) a spinster, married John Boden in the registry office at Bakewell. Hannah’s father was named as Samuel Slater and Hannah “made her mark” with a cross, just as she had done when she married William. She gave her age as 23 (John was 22) and would actually have been 34, but subsequent censuses backtrack this a little with a year of birth around 1848-49, and handily confirm her place of birth as Kirk Ireton.
Hannah had three children with John Boden; they never left rural Derbyshire. I suspect that she died in 1894 as there is a matching death registration with the correct age of 51, so if this is correct, she obviously confessed her true age to her family at some point!
But did Hannah Slater or William Holyland ever tell their second spouses about their first, seemingly forgotten, but still legally binding marriage? We will never know.
https://holylandons.blogspot.com/2020/12/a-tale-of-three-weddings-pt-1-first.html
https://holylandons.blogspot.com/2020/12/a-tale-of-three-weddings-pt-2-williams.html
Nice series of articles! Could William and Hannah have been legally divorced? Divorce records can be hard to track down. Then they might have still listed themselves as bachelor & spinster on subsequent marriages, even though untrue.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of that! I have found divorce records for a different couple from 1880 so I shall have a nosy around - some do exist and are available.
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