Could a couple get married in two different countries?

[ms.smith]

I recently received the birth record of a member of my family history from the Italian Consulate in Alexandria. It informed me that on 1st December 1866 Frederico Maria FEDRIGO Bey, captain in the Khedive of Egypt's Navy, age 46, declared that a male baby had been born to him and his wife, Amelia Maria GOWAR, who was age 24 and an Italian citizen , born in Leicester, England. The baby was given the names Antonio Agostino Frederico Fredrigo.

I had waited many years to track down this birth record. BUT I am puzzled.

I have a marriage certificate for Frederico and Amelia Gowar dated 10th September 1868.
They were married in Trinity Church Marleybone, Middlesex. He is described as a bachelor, she as a spinster. (even though their son Antonio was nearly two)

I have no record of a marriage for them in Italy or Alexandria prior to the 1868 one in England but would like to know if other people have come across the same thing..
Sadly Amelia was die a week after the birth of their 2nd child in 1871 so Frederico was widowed inspite of being 22 years older than his wife.

[Italysearcher]

I got married in two countries 13 years ago. A civil ceremony in Toronto Canada and a religious ceremony in Sora Italy.
People also tell lies. I don't believe today you have to provide proof of marriage to register the birth of a baby. I don't imagine they asked for it back then either.
WHere the problem in Italy was after 1870 was that in a small town the clerk KNEW if you were married or not.

[ms.smith]

thank you for your reply. I don't think proof of marriage is important in registering a birth but I suppose in 1866 legitimacy rules required marital status to be recorded? It is intriguing to find someone described as a wife in one country and a spinster two years later, going through a marriage ceremony with the same man in another country. This little puzzle makes them all the more interesting!

[Italysearcher]

A 'spinster' is a person who has never been married. Just becasue she has children doesn't change that status. It could also be that the clerk who recorded the birth just assumed they were married. In the days of illiteracy the person wouldn't have been in a psoition to object to what was written and since you don't get a copy (like in other countries) how would you know?

[ms.smith]

The document was signed by the Father who was an educated man who was a captain in the Viceroy of Egypt's navy, the baby's mother, described as his wife, was the daughter of parents who ran a school in England so I would guess these people were literate. and the last sentence of the record says:

"All the above was written in this act in two copies that was read, confirmed and undersigned by all the parties."

It was two years after this in 1868 that they got married in England. My interest is in whether they went through a marriage ceremony in Alexandria and if so why they should do it again in England. Perhaps it was just so that Amelia (the baby's mother) could celebrate the occasion with her English friends and relations? Surely a marriage conducted in Alexandria in the 1860s between two Italian subjects (Amelia seems to have had Italian citizenship, though native to Leicester in England) would have been recognised (from a legal point of view)in England?

[Italysearcher]

It could have been like my situation. The civil marriage in Alexandria and the religious one in England. Have you checked where the English one took place? And if there is a civil registration. There probably was since in England the priest/minister was usually also authorized to register the marriage civilly.