A marriage of love on 22 August 1931 for Valentine’s week.

This lovely wedding photo is another gem from an eBay seller I bought towards the end of last year.

Was the marriage of this older couple their second marriage?

Splendid to have not just the couple’s names written on the back but also where they married, so helpful. St Andrews Church, Plymouth, Devon. The marriage of George and Mehetabel (Matter) Wright. Dated August 1931.

I was so pleased to find the actual image of their wedding certificate on Family Search too as it showed me what I suspected that Mehetabel was single and Samuel George, known as George was a Widower. Also lovely to see that her family were all there to support her by being witnesses.

Samuel George Wright‘s occupation was a Printers Manager. It’s always brilliant to be able to see the actual certificate as there is such a lot of information on it to confirm what you might have found already or to give you information that you don’t already have.

I had no idea who Samuel’s previous wife was, so that was my first priority. I was thinking he could have married after 1911 as I have him still single and living at home then. But I wasn’t happy with my first possible 1921 census record for him, it didn’t fit his occupation, so I went back to the records and used the advanced option by just putting in the surname Wright, born 1888 in Lowestoft, Suffolk on Find My Past and Ancestry and out of the various names that brought up a perfect match as he is working at a Printers, Messrs William Brendon and Son Limited, printers, also known as the Mayflower Press, were located at Pier Street and West Hoe Road, Plymouth, before the Second World War. (From W. Brendon’s Obituary)

But I still didn’t know what his wife’s maiden name was. There was a 3-year-old living with them in 1921, so who was she? Interestingly if you look at the other pages that come with the census it was filled in by Elizabeth Wright who says she is Peggy Elizabeth Walker‘s Aunt, a clue I hope. So going on her record to see what other records come up as being relevant to her was a birth for her in Cambridge with the mother’s maiden name of Kerry! Matching where Elizabeth was born. Now this was also interesting as on FreeBMD marriages the 19 results for a Samuel Wright marriage to an Elizabeth between 1911 and 1921, one I remembered was Kerry. I added Elizabeth Kerry born 1885 in Cambridge to my tree. Then I easily found a marriage between Elizabeth A Kerry and Samuel G Wright in 1915 in Cambridge. Now I’m wondering what happened to her?

I found her death record in 1924, so of course I had to know her cause of death. So sad.

As a result of this information, I found the birth of a little girl to the couple. WRIGHT, ELIZABETH MARY KERRY
GRO Reference: 1924 S Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 05B Page 326. (Birth 6/7 Aug 1924) I couldn’t find a death record so I hoped that she had survived. But where did she go after her Mum died? My next search was for the 1939 Register first I looked via Ancestry and found that Samuel and Mehetabel had a possible child living with them but the entry was redacted.

1939 Register: Samuel George Wright‘s Occupation: Newspaper Works Manager. Civil Defence Role A.R.P. Service; First Aid; Ambulance Driver.

The family lived at Whin Brea, Beacon Park Road, Plymouth, Devon, England.

Then I looked at the same entry on Find My Past and hooray Elizabeth Mary Wright is here for all to see as her birth is over 100 years ago.

I found a matching marriage for Elizabeth Mary Wright marriage in Sidcup, Kent to Peter Richard Hickson in the Dec quarter of 1964. Elizabeth was 40.

Now back to Samuel George Wright born on 29 March 1888 in Lowestoft, Suffolk, his parents were Alexander Huke Wright, who was a Tailor, 1855-1927 and Mary Ann Mayes 1851-1900. Samuel was one of five children born to the couple that I have found so far.

Samuel died on 9 October 1971 in Minehead, Somerset, at the age of 83.

The bride in our picture Mehetabel Ellen Hoskin was born on 5 July 1886 in Devonport, Devon, her father was John Albert Leddra Hoskin born on 26 Jan 1860 was in the Royal Navy from the age of 21, he was a Carpenter and obviously loved his work according to the Navy record below.

Mehetabel‘s mother was Nellie Elizabeth Blake. Mehetabel died on 14 March 1971 in Minehead, Somerset, at the age of 84 six months before Samuel, they were both living in Westerley Care Home, King Edward Road, Minehead, Devon when they died.

Mehetabel was the eldest of six children, the youngest Harold was only 7 when their Mum Nellie died at age 49. It looks to me as though Mehetabel took over the running of the household and caring for her family after this. She was 24 when Nellie died.

By this time her brother John Albert Leddra Hoskin age 16 had joined the Royal Navy like his father, his occupation was ‘A Boy Artificer Engineer’ this was a trainee in the Royal Navy who became an Artificer Engineer. Known as an “Artificer Apprentice” by the 1920s.

Between the 1911 and 1921 census one of Mehetabel’s brothers Edwin Henry E Hoskin died in the first quarter of 1913. On the 1911 census, his occupation was a Tailors Cutter Apprentice. The digital entry for his death is not available so I don’t know the cause of death. This is the six children of John and Nellie.

Here’s the small family tree for the family on Ancestry: George & Mehetabel Wright Family

Mehetabel‘s father John came to live with her and her husband Samuel after their marriage as he died at their address in 1933.

The Church was badly bombed during WW2 then re-roofed and restored by Etchells and re-consecrated on 30 November 1957, St Andrew’s Day (Info Wikipedia)

Till next time then…….