Yes, if both parents are shown in the register entry then there will be two entries in the original quarterly indexes, one under each surname. But this isn't what you'll find in the new GRO online index - these were compiled on a different basis (as I've demonstrated in the newsletter using examples, including one from my own tree).
I deleted my post having realised it was the wrong Henry Morton Stanley whose tree I was looking at.
But when you're researching in Wales the surnames are often so common that without seeing the mother's maiden name it's difficult to know which are worth following up.
I agree there is a good chance this is the marriage, and it seems to have been 'til death us do part' thereafter. Elizabeth's death certificate (also attached to Steamerpoint's tree) shows she died 23 March 1886, and the informant is Robert Jones, widower of deceased, present at the death. Hopefully she had a happy marriage in the end. I imagine Henry Morton Stanley was quite famous in Elizabeth's later years, but I don't suppose she knew he was her son!
Supposedly he visited his family in the early 1870s.
On further investigation, it seems his mother did know who he was, and met him on more than one occasion. This 1872 newspaper article gives lots of interesting details. It doesn't say who his father was, though (other than his 'real' name was John Rowlands), or where he and his mother were when he was a baby!
Interestingly the age given for Stanley is wrong - if he was born in 1841 he was still 31 not 32. But it is probably just an innocent mistake.
Yes - I have trouble remembering exactly how old my thirty-something sons are too!
Apparently Robert Jones presented Elizabeth's tea-tray to H.M. Stanley's bride as a wedding present in 1890, at his lavishly reported wedding in Westminster Abbey. The details come at the end of a vast list of wedding presents, and might be worth a glance (Manchester Courier, 14 July 1890: "Mr. Robert Jones, of the Cross Foxes Inn, St. Asaph, who married Mr. H.M. Stanley's mother, has sent to Miss Tennant, Stanley's bride, a curious and yet valuable tea-tray belonging to Stanley's late mother, the card of presentation being thus inscribed: 'Hir oes a thangnefedd i'r ddauddyn. The favourite tea-tray of Mrs. Jones, of Glascoed, St. Asaph, North Wales, mother of Henry M. Stanley, Esq., presented to Miss Dorothy Tennant, by Robert Jones, the bereaved widower, on the occasion of her marriage with his illustrious stepson. - Cross Foxes, Glascoed, July 9th, 1890.'"
Certainly a lavish wedding, judging by the newspaper reports. I wonder what the groom put as his father's name on the marriage register? Not that it would tell us who his real father was, but I'm just curious.
The baptism entry gives his date of birth as 'Jany 28'.
It does look like 'Bastard' was inserted in afterwards, but I'm not sure about Parry. The father's occupation is written near the top of the relevant box, level with his name, whereas in most of the entries above, the occupation is written nearer the middle of the box. This suggests both surnames might already have been entered before the occupation was written in.
I don't think we can rule out the possibility that the birth date was shown incorrectly in the baptism register - that's why I highlighted the possibility that he entry had been amended at a later date. It would interesting to find out whether a Bishop's Transcript of this entry has survived, and - if so - what it shows.
I'm still following this discussion with interest to see what arises. I have yet to actually see the entry, a screen shot would be good, please.
