Was Fanny a Bigamist?
 

In hubby's tree, we have Fanny Ellis born in Oakengates, Shropshire in 1858. The daughter of Peter Ellis & Martha Griffiths.

During a visit to Sheffield Archives looking through parish records a few years ago at my family, I found a marriage for Fanny at All Saints, Brightside, Sheffield on the 8th June 1878 to a Thomas Walter Hayden. Details are: Thomas aged 25, Widower, Porter of Bamber Bridge, father James Hayden, Labourer. Fanny aged 20, Spinster of Attercliffe, Father Peter Ellis (Dec). Witnesses Thomas Freestone & Sarah Smith.

However, on the 1881 census, she's listed with her widowed mother at 53 Zion Lane, Attercliffe, Sheffield as unmarried. I know that people can be listed twice on census but I cannot find any other record of her on this census, or indeed of a likely Thomas Hayden.

I've now found what I believe is our Fanny on the 1891 census married to a Ewen McNeill and living in Carlton, Yorkshire. When I searched for the marriage, she married as Fanny Ellis rather than Fanny Hayden. The marriage was in the Sept Q 1881 somewhere in the Rotherham district (could be in the Swinton area as the family had connections to this place). Fanny's year and place of birth on the 91 census are accurate.

I don't think that Thomas Walter Hayden died but I can't prove this yet. Could anyone take a look for him at all on the 81 census or any possible death (or even another marriage for him)?

Many thanks

This could be Thomas in 1861:
1861 census ancestry

Arkesden, Essex
James Hayden Head Mar 50 Ag Lab London parish not known
Hannah Do Wife Do 49 Do Do Essex Langley
Amos Do Son Unm 18 Do Do Do Arkesden
Thos Walter Do Do Do 8 Scholar Do Do
Martha Do Daur 5 Do Do Do
Mary Skinner Niece Un 13 Laborers Daur Do Langley

Could be Thomas in 1871 if I found the right one in 1861 (milkman age 20 boarder in London, birthplace is Essex Arkesden):
1871 census

Hmm, looking at public trees on ancestry, some people have that Thomas dying in Essex in 1888 and some have him dying in New South Wales in 1925.

Yes, there is a Thomas W Hayden death in 1925 in Granville, NSW, parents James and Hannah, but I wonder when he emigrated.

Also, it is possible that Thomas wasn't really a widower when he married Fanny, but still married, in which case he would be the bigamist and she would be o.k. to marry again. I haven't managed to find his first marriage yet to check that the wife died.

If Thomas does indeed end up being a bigamist when he married Fanny, then if he left her before she married Ewen McNeill, does that still make her a bigamist because she wouldn't have been aware his first wife wasn't dead?

In that scenario, she wouldn't legally be a bigamist even if she believed herself to be one. But I have a couple of bigamous marriages in my family tree where the second wife / husband must have known that their predecessor was still alive, so it is possible that Fanny could have known that Thomas's first wife was. If she was! It's only a theoretical possibility as I haven't found anything about his first wife yet.

He says he's of Bamber Bridge on the marriage to Fanny in Sheffield. I only know of a Bamber Bridge in/near Preston in Lancashire. If he did have a first wife, I wonder if she was in, or died, in Lancashire.

That death in Granville, Australia with the parents names does tie in with the man you found on the 61 census. I wonder if it is him, then if he left Fanny soon after their marriage and went to Australia. I also wondered if he could have ended up in Australia as a convict. Did they still transport though in the late 1870s?

I have been looking at Lancashire records but found nothing yet.

No, they weren't still transporting convicts to Australia then but he could have emigrated soon after his marriage to Fanny. I haven't managed to find a passenger record yet though.