| When Richard Parker married the younger sister of his late wife, he was breaking the laws of the time. It was illegal to marry your brother's widow or your wife's sister.
Richard and Alice were married in June 1852 at a Catholic church in Preston. There was a registrar in attendance and the marriage was duly registered in the 2nd quarter of 1852 (volume
8e, page 627). However, their "relationship" must have come to the attention of the authorities and the marriage declared null and void. Despite this, Richard and Alice continued to live as husband and wife and considered that they were married in the eyes of the Catholic church and in the eyes of God. Their marriage may have raised a few eyebrows in the neighbourhood, but their families seem to have approved. Members of both the Parker and Swift families were Godparents to their children and Richard was one of the Executors to his father-in-law, Hugh Swift's Will when he died on 14 February 1877. Because of the legal status of their marriage, Alice was, in the eyes of the law, a spinster and her name was Alice Swift. When Richard Parker died in 1878 probate of his Will was proved to "Alice Swift otherwise Parker". In his Will, Richard explained the situation in his own words: |
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| "...I appoint Alice Swift (Parker), my beloved wife (whom I married in the Month of June in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty two according to the rites and ceremonies of the Holy Roman Catholic Church of which we are both members although being the sister of my late wife Mary Parker she is by the provisions of the act of the fifth and sixth William the Forth chapter the fifty forth section the second debarred from the legal privileges of our Union)..." |
| So, legally, Thomas Parker and is 5 siblings were born illegitimate but in the eyes of their church - which was much more important to them, they were the children of a loving and "married" couple. |