Marriage
The next piece of information about Martha Nash is her marriage to Richard Eldridge on 25th December 1816 at St. Andrew's, Canterbury, Kent, England according to the England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973 record on Ancestry. Martha was under full age, being 19 years of age, at the date of the wedding and would therefore have needed the permission of her parents. Or in this instance, her mother as her father had died when she was just 14.
Before their fathers death in 1811, Edward Nash, an elder brother of Martha worked at sea. According to the Preventive Boat Service Return to Parliament, Edward Nash on was with the Preventive Boat Service at the age of 28, with a date of Appointment, December 1817 and with an annual salary of £5. He was recommended for the post by the Treasury. He had been at sea for 13 years 3 months. Giving a start at sea date of September 1804.
Formed in 1809 as the "Preventive Waterguard" (also known as the Preventive Boat Service) to combat smuggling, the Waterguard was an independent arm of revenue enforcement and complemented the "riding officers" (stationed along the south coast of England) who patrolled the shore on horseback, and the offshore revenue cutters (which were owned and operated by both the Board of Customs and the Board of Excise). The Waterguard was initially based in watch houses around the coast, and boat crews patrolled inshore waters around the coast in small boats each night. It was placed under Admiralty control from 1816 to 1822, when it and the riding officers and cutters were amalgamated under the control of HM Customs and renamed the Coast Guard (itself placed under Admiralty control in 1856). With the Coast Guard having moved away from preventive work in the years that followed, the Waterguard was re-formed as part of HM Customs in 1891 and absorbed into the Customs and Excise department in 1909.
The Waterguard was a division of HM Customs and Excise (HMCE).
In the 1841 Census, where we find Richard and Martha Eldridge living in Western Street, Mile End Old Town, Middlesex, he was a Customs House Officer. Perhaps there was a connection between Richard and Edward Nash, Martha's brother, which led to Martha and Richard meeting.
According to some trees on Ancestry, Martha Eldridge nee Nash and Richard Eldridge had 11 children. Below we can try to fill in some gaps between their wedding on 25th December 1816 at St. Andrew's Church, Canterbury, and the first surviving census record of them in 1841.
| Event | Date | Place - Abode | County |
| Marriage | 25th December 1816 | Canterbury | Kent |
| Baptism - Richard | 12th October 1817 | Torcross | Devon |
| Birth - Martha Baynes | 7th March 1819 | Devon | |
| Baptism - Martha Baynes | 1819 | Devon | |
| Baptism - Mercy Nash | 25th December 1820 | Cemaes | Anglesey |
| Baptism - Mary Nash | 25th December 1820 | Cemaes | Anglesey |
| Baptism - Elizabeth Sarah | 22nd September 1822 | Cemaes | Anglesey |
| Baptism - Mary Ann | |||
| Baptism - Mary | |||
| Baptism - Elizabeth | 23rd July 1826 | Cemaes | Anglesey |
A map showing the civil parishes of the Metropolis districts of Whitechapel, Limehouse and Poplar as they appeared in 1870. Based on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of London (1871-76) at 1:1056 scale.
Stepney Civil Parish Map 1870 -- By Doc77can - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31418742
