Was Penelope Naunton married at age 4? [closed]

Question

Sources for the marriage of Penelope Naunton and Paul Bayning usually list the date as being 25 August 1624. Cokayne https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo02coka/page/36/mode/2up adds that it took place at Hitchin, Herts. But in surveying these sources, I have yet to see any primary record to show this marriage, and as we all know, many genealogists will uncritically copy from one another without examining records.

In 1624, Penelope was aged 4 and Paul about 8. This was an age when early marriages were commonplace, if not quite THAT early. But there is one record that contradicts the earlier date:

First name(s)	Penelope
County	Suffolk
Last name	Naunton
Country	England
Birth year	-
Source	Boyd's marriage index, 1538-1850
Year	1634
Record set	England, Boyd's Marriage Indexes, 1538-1850
Spouse's first name(s)	Paul
Category	Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Spouse's last name	Baining
Subcategory	Parish Marriages
Place	Hitcham

 [England, Boyd's Marriage Indexes, 1538-1850/ Suffolk, England [https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FM%2F753748237%2F1 FindMyPast]

This is hardly the most reliable evidence, but:

The names Hitcham and Hitchin could easily be confused.  The Naunton family originated in Suffolk. The dates 1634 and 1624 could easily be transposed.  And the ages would have been a lot more reasonable at 18 and 14.

And I have yet to find a more reliable source for the earlier date.

Answer 1

Boyd’s inhabitants of London have her marriage as 1634.

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBOR%2FBIL%2FSOG29%2F0199&parentid=GBPRS%2FBIL%2F00163053

Ann

Comments

Yeah, it's basically the same record.  Counts for 1, no more.

What I'd like to find is that 25 August record for Herts, see who really got married that day.

Answer 2

The Complete Peerage, vol 14 Corrigenda and  Addenda, on p. 74 under Bayning has Vol. 2, page 37, line 37 "for '1624' read '1634' and for 'Herts' read 'Suffolk'  though it doesn't cite a source for this change.

Comments

A letter dated 1 April 1634, from G. Garrard to the Lord Deputy (Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who was Lord Deputy General of Ireland at the time) refers to "the Master of the Wards hath concluded a Match betwixt his only daughter and the Lord Bayning"

Which confirms the marriage wasn't in 1624 but leaves open whether the marriage was earlier than 25 August, or the betrothal happened before 1st April 1634, and the marriage on 25 August?

This is from Knowler, William, The Earl of Strafforde's Letters and Dispatches, with an essay towards his Life by Sir George Radcliffe, vol 1 (London: W Bowyer, 1739). p. 227

---

You're brilliant, thanks, John!

Answer 3

There is no marriage in the Hitchin registers for 25 August 1624 or 25 August 1634. (Images on FindMyPast.)