That's true lily. I remember looking up a marriage for someone & they were so shocked that baby arrived so soon after the marriage took place that they doubted I found the correct marriage. Seemed standard procedure in some places. Also notable is how frequently young women died in childbirth and how soon widowers remarried.
Liv ... you're right about men remarrying quickly but often they were left with children and whoever came in to help with the children ended up as the new wife. Or so Catherine Cookson would have us believe.
My maternal great grandfather lost his first wife in child birth. His second wife, my great grandmother was his first wife's sister. So maybe Catherine Cookson knew a thing or two.
Catherine Cookson would be right according to our FT @tinkerbelle. My great great paternal grandfather had two wives. The first died in April and he married the second one in July the same year. He had 6 children at that time so needs must I suppose and 17 by the time he was done -alas, no TV then. My great paternal grandfather had three wives - the first died of smallpox, the second wife died of heart failure at 28 and the third wife died of TB. He didn't marry the fourth lady. Let's face it, if you were superstitious ...