Double Wedding BOWDLER/ROBERTS Newnham 1936 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, October 04, 2012, 13:28 (4436 days ago) @ dink999

Thanks !, what a great story, and perhaps a perfect wedding arrangement from a purely practical & economical viewpoint such as perhaps a man might prefer ?.

From this site's PRS I see the grooms were from "my own" St Stephen's Parish:

Record_ID: 332839
Entry_Number: 399
Year: 1907
Month: Nov
Day: 17
Parents_Surname: BOWDLER
Child_Forenames: George James
Fathers_Forenames: Sydney Francis
Mothers_Forenames: Helen
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: St Annel's Road
Occupation: Collier
Officiating_Minister: W H M Hancock
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P85/2 IN 1/2
Page_Number: 50
Parish_Chapel: Cinderford St Stephen
Soundex: B346

Record_ID: 333228
Entry_Number: 788
Year: 1914
Month: Sep
Day: 10
Parents_Surname: BOWDLER
Child_Forenames: Reginald Francis
Fathers_Forenames: Sydney Francis
Mothers_Forenames: Helen
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Sutton
Occupation: Collier
Officiating_Minister: J Martin Vicar
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P85/2 IN 1/2
Page_Number: 99
Parish_Chapel: Cinderford St Stephen
Soundex: B346

I don't know of any local Suttons, would this be Sutton Coalfield or even Sutton London, perhaps due to the War ?

From the 1911 Census, (free access on Ancestry still):
Five Room Household at Barnham Farm, Littledean, Glos

Sidney Bowdler Head abt 1882 29 Male Married 5yrs Farmer Littledean, Gloucestershire
Ellen Bowdler Wife abt 1883 28 Female Married 5yrs East Dean, Gloucestershire
Fred Bowdler Son abt 1907 4 Male East Dean, Gloucestershire
George Bowdler Son abt 1908 3 Male East Dean, Gloucestershire
Gladys Bowdler Daughter abt 1910 1 Female East Dean,
Nora Morgan Cousin abt 1895 16 Female servant Domestic East Dean, Gloucestershire

I see there are other Bowdler PRs around this time at Pleasant Stile, Littledean.
Re Barnham Farm, is this in any way related to what as kids we knew as "The Barn" upon top of Cinderford/Littledean Hill, we spent many happy days in the woods along there ?. I'll have a look at the Old Maps site later..

Oddly perhaps? I can only find one Marriage entry on FreeBMD:

Surname First name(s) Mother/Spouse/Age District Vol Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marriages Jun 1936 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOWDLER George J Roberts Westbury S 6a 891
Roberts Lillian E Bowdler Westbury S. 6a 891

A little more detail from Glos BMD:

Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
BOWDLER George James ROBERTS Lillian Estella Forest of Dean Westbury-on-Severn (FoD) Register Office 1936 22 150

Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
BOWDLER Reginald Francis ROBERTS Beatrice Gladys Forest of Dean Westbury-on-Severn (FoD) Register Office 1936 22 151

No more obvious subsequent entries on FreeBMD for any of these four that I can see.
Searching Bowdler/Roberts Births after 1936 I find these which I think are theirs:

Surname First name(s) Mother District Vol Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Births Jun 1937 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bowdler Marlene E Roberts F.of Dean 6a 467

Births Jun 1938 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bowdler Keith Roberts F.of Dean 6a 480

And also these which perhaps link to "Sutton" Coalfield ?, are they related ?

Births Dec 1948 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bowdler Denise E Roberts Wolverhampton 9b 1327

Births Jun 1950 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bowdler Joseph J Roberts Wolverhampton 9b 1321

Births Jun 1955 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOWDLER André A ROBERTS Wolverhampton 9b 1268

I've not found any Bowdler/Roberts births on FoD PRs or GlosBMD.

I do "feel" for the parents and hope that they weren't actually upset despite the claims in the paper ?. Was it pure coincidence they happened to meet the family afterwards at the Swan, just down the road from St Annals & St Stephens Church, and make it public in the paper ?. I wonder if a family member was a journalist at the paper ?
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/cinderford_2/pages/page_45.html

ps
I recall when one of my senior cousins (who by coincidence turns 60 this weekend) got married in secret at Gloucester Registry Office in the 80s. Given that everyone knew and liked his bride this caused considerable family upset at the time particularly with our grandmother, but he just wasn't and still isn't one for public "pomp & ceremony", hence sadly no "do" this weekend...