Hungerford - Shalbourne Tree

Surname Bignell of Edith Annie from GRO marriage record. However, GRO records of births of children give mother's name as Thomas?

email to Graham Lovelock 10-Aug-06 Indeed, this is odd. However, I find it hard to believe that the marriage in Hungerford RD 3Q 1920 of Arthur J Lovelock and Edith A Bignell is not the right couple, and that they are indeed the parents of the 4 children you list (I do have the GRO references by the way, obtained from Ancestry images, and as you noted they do cite the mother's name as Thomas).

One possible explanation is that the maiden name of Edith Annie was Thomas, and that she was previously married to a Mr Bignell; when she got married she used her married name, and then reverted to her maiden name for the births of her children. Or maybe it was vice versa (less likely in my opinion).

I'm not sure we know that Edith Annie was born in Shalbourne (or Hungerford for that matter) and there is a GRO birth for an Edith Annie Thomas in Haverford West RD 2Q 1897 and another one at Pontypridd 3q 1897 (a bit far from home, but who knows) and yet another in Falmouth RD 4Q 1897. However, I couldn't find a corresponding marriage, and it is a bit of a long shot since she would have been very young and the marriage couldn't have lasted very long (but there is WWI to be taken into consideration). Alternatively, maybe she was an illegitimate child and initially used her mother's name and then reverted to her father's name (or vice versa).

Sorry this is not very convincing, but I find it hard to believe that Edith Annie Bignell and Edith Annie Thomas are not the same person.

Graham's reply included the following: "convincing or not, James, I tend to agree with your last sentence."

email from Graham Lovelock 10-Aug-06: Something I don't recall musing over before is what is entered on a birth certificate for a child of a second marriage when it comes to the section for the mother's maiden name. I assumed it meant the surname she had before she was married at all, which would be consistent with Edith Annie Thomas marrying Mr Bignell before marrying Arthur Lovelock.

Your mention of WW1 caused me to go to the CWGC site, and there's a William Fredrick (sic) Bignell, died 7/11/1918 aged 25, son of Thomas and Rose Bignell, 3 Oak Cottages, Shalbourne, Berks. No indication, though, that he was married.

email from Graham Lovelock 11-Aug-06: There's definitely something odd about Bignell information. As mentioned last night the CWGC website identifies a William Fredrick Bignell, the son of Thomas and Rose Bignell of 3 Oak Cottages, Shalbourne, but I can't find any 1901 entry in Ancestry for Thomas and Rose.

William Fredrick would have been 7 or 8 in 1901, but I can't find any likely candidate. Nor under Fredrick, nor under Bignall.

I eventually found the GRO marriage record on Ancestry (images); Marriages Oct-Dec 1916 Bignell, William F, Thomas, Pontypridd, 11a 1057 I checked under Thomas and found on the same page: Thomas, Edith A., Bignell, Pontypridd 11a 1057

This fits in with the birth record I found previously on FreeBMD: Births Jul-Dec 1897, Thomas, Edith Annie, Pontypridd 11a 542