Married twice??

[Sussex Maid]

There are two marriages on the Yorkshire parish records for St John the Baptist -
28 Oct 1819 and 13 Dec 1821
both for
John Rayner (mistranscribed Rauner 1819) of Halifax and
Rachel Milne of Halifax.
Both have the bride's uncle, Richard Sugden, as a witness.
The curate is the same person.
and the signatures of the bride and groom appear to be the same.

Have I missed something blindingly obvious or did these two get married twice??
Any thoughts welcome
thank you

[Uncle John]

Any idea about ages, from later records? Perhaps one of them was under-age first time.

[Sussex Maid]

Rachel was born Feb 1799, I haven't got any further info in John apart from 1841 census when he says he is 40 (I realise that could be flexible.)
Both of the marriages were by licence, so I suppose a 'fib' could have been told.
What age would have been considered 'under-age' in 1819 please?
regards

[kiterunner]

Originally Posted by Sussex Maid

What age would have been considered 'under-age' in 1819 please?
regards

Under 21.

[Sussex Maid]

KiteRunner
Thank you, so Rachel would have been 20yrs 8mths at the first marriage - will have to do some work on John and try to find his birth/baptism.
Will also try and get a copy of the later licence to see if anything is mentioned on there.
regards

[Olde Crone]

One person being underage would not invalidate the marriage, unless they were under the LEGAL age for marriage, which was 12 years for a female at that time.

The usual reason for marrying the same person twice is that the husband was in the military and did not have permission to marry the first time.

OC

[Sussex Maid]

OC
Thank you for that information. I have been in contact with Halifax RO and Borthwick Institute, they are checking it out for me.
John Rayner, the husband, is described as 'Linen Draper' in 1819 and 'Mercer' in 1821, so no obvious military occupation.
Have been checking this couple out a bit more and they
married 28 Oct 1819 - Rachel 'spinster' - curate James Knight
baby born/bap 23 Dec 1819/20 Mar 1820 - John and Rachel Rayner, Draper, curate J Knight
baby born/bap 15 Oct 1821/15 Nov 1821 - John and Rachel Rayner, Linen Draper, curate J Knight
married 13 Dec 1821 - John 'bachelor', Rachel 'spinster', curate James Knight
So not too sure whether first marriage would have been declared null and void which is why they were shown as bachelor and spinster second time around and there are no comments in the register on any of the above events.
Still, this makes a change from the couples in my tree who didn't find the time to get to the altar once...
regards

[Olde Crone]

Sussex Maid

The reasons for declaring a marriage null and void would prevent the same couple from immediately marrying again!

It's very odd. All I can think of is that the first marriage was bigamous but you would have thought the clergy would have made a note of disapproval in the margin if nothing else!

OC