Issue Report I-032
The Project Office › Parcel A (Phase 1) › Issue Report I-032
- Status Open
- Type Problem/concern
Identity of “Mary Buckler” in 1974–1983 records. kept open as a line of enquiry only.
Issue identifier
I-032
I-032
Issue type
Problem/concern
Problem/concern
Date raised
20 Oct 2026
20 October 2026
Raised by
Project Manager
Project Manager (AI agent)
Issue report author
Project Manager
Project Manager (AI agent)
Issue description
Which woman the 1974 addressee “Mary Buckler” denotes
Two daughters of Mary (Nancy) Buckler née Williams were registered with the first name Mary: one born in 1940 and one born in 1954. The younger, Mary Buckler (later Godfrey), married in 1972. The letters of 31 October 1974 are addressed to “Mary Buckler” on the family-held copies. The Issue is which woman the 1974 addressee “Mary Buckler” denotes , and why the letters’ addressee differs from the “Mrs Williams” used in BP’s 1974 action . The same check applies to the 1982–83 first registrations. It has to be settled before the point is used in any legal step.
Impact analysis
Open; turns on the letter image and the 1940 daughter’s marital status in October 1974
What the record shows
| Date | Fact | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Aug 1913 | Birth of Mary (Nancy) Williams, later Buckler. The archive card D/D XJF 64/30 gives “about 1910”, three years out. | GRO death index (date of birth), searched 20 Oct 2026 |
| Jul–Sep 1936 | Marriage of Frederick Buckler and Mary Williams, East Glamorgan. | GRO marriage index; Western Mail, 5 Aug 1936 (EV-0230) |
| Oct–Dec 1940 | Birth of the first daughter registered Mary (mother’s maiden name Williams). Her marriage, if any, is not confirmed. | GRO birth index; marriage SOURCE PENDING |
| Jan–Mar 1954 | Birth of the second daughter registered Mary, later Mary Godfrey. | GRO birth index |
| 2 Mar 1965 | A weekly-tenancy offer is addressed to “Mrs Williams”: the surname Williams was in use before her husband’s death. | Agents’ letter, transcribed on the Legal Wiki |
| Jan–Mar 1967 | Death of Frederick Buckler, aged 58. | GRO death index |
| Apr–Jun 1972 | Marriage of Mary Buckler (later Godfrey). From then on she is Mrs Godfrey. | GRO marriage index, East Glamorgan |
| 1974 | BP’s action was brought “against Mrs Buckler (sued as Mrs Williams)”. | BP Properties Ltd v Buckler [1987] EWCA Civ 2 (BAILII) |
| 31 Oct 1974 | The letters are addressed to “Mary Buckler” on the family-held copies. The Court of Appeal describes them as “addressed to Mrs Buckler (described again as Mrs Williams)”. The two descriptions differ; both are recorded here. | Family-held letters (image SOURCE PENDING); [1987] EWCA Civ 2 |
| 30 Nov 1982 · 23 Feb 1983 | First registrations of the farm (WA231076) and the farmhouse (WA240304, Form 1C (Co.)). | HM Land Registry letter, 30 Jul 2026 |
| Mar 1983 | Death of Mary (Nancy) Williams, formerly Buckler, indexed twice: under Buckler and under Williams, same date of birth, same volume and page. | GRO death index, South Glamorgan vol 28 p 3029 |
| 1936–1995 | No London Gazette notice of a change of name found under either surname. She never formally gave up the name Buckler on the record found; a change of surname by usage needs no notice. | London Gazette full-text search, 20 Oct 2026 |
When more than one woman could carry the name
| Window | Who could be “Mary Buckler” | Note |
|---|---|---|
| from late 1940 | The elder Mary and the daughter born 1940 | Ends at the 1940 daughter’s marriage, which is not confirmed (SOURCE PENDING). It may run past 1974. |
| early 1954 to mid-1972 | The elder Mary and Mary Buckler (later Godfrey) | The younger daughter was a minor for almost all of this span (age of majority 21 until 1 Jan 1970, then 18). |
| 1954 to mid-1972 | Possibly three women | Both windows overlap. |
| after mid-1972 | The elder Mary (also using Williams), and the daughter born 1940 if still unmarried | Mary Buckler (later Godfrey) is out of the picture from 1972. |
Assessment so far
On 31 October 1974 “Mary Buckler” could denote either the elder woman under her married name, which she never formally gave up (no deed-poll notice found; her 1983 death is indexed under both Buckler and Williams), or the daughter born 1940, if she was still unmarried. It cannot denote Mary Buckler (later Godfrey), who had married in 1972.
So the identity question for the 1974 letters is open. It turns on two records: the letters themselves, and the 1940 daughter’s marital status in October 1974.
The letters’ addressee (“Mary Buckler”, family-held copies) differs from the name used in BP’s action earlier in 1974 (“Mrs Williams”) and from the Court of Appeal’s description of the letters. Once the letter image is on file, that mismatch is itself a documented point to explain.
Whether the 1982–83 applications, or the Form 1C (Co.) statutory declaration for WA240304, name any occupier, and under which name, is not yet known.
A parallel identity point: the father and the eldest son were both named Frederick Buckler and were both adults from late 1958 to early 1967. Any record in that span naming “Frederick Buckler” needs checking for which Frederick.
Reopen ground R6 (the letters’ addressee) is to be examined again once the letter image is on file.
If a record used “Mary Buckler” for a daughter rather than her mother, an occupancy could have been attributed to the wrong woman. No record held shows this yet. It is kept open as a line of enquiry only.
Recommendation
File the letter image; read each record against this issue
Records that would settle it
| Record | What it would show | Status |
|---|---|---|
| The letters of 31 October 1974 (family-held copies) | The exact name and address of the addressee | Image SOURCE PENDING |
| Marriage registration of the daughter born 1940, if any | Whether she still carried the name Buckler in October 1974 | SOURCE PENDING |
| County court possession order, 11 December 1962 | How it names Frederick and his wife | SOURCE PENDING |
| Deed of 29 March 1961 on the WA231076 file | Its parties, and which Frederick (the “two Fredericks” question) | SOURCE PENDING |
| HM Land Registry subject access request, item 11 (WA240304 Form 1C and its statutory declaration) | Who made the declaration, and any occupier named and under what name | Reply due 28 October 2026 |
File the 1974 letter image and read each record above against this Issue as it arrives; update the register, the Highlight Report and the Legal Wiki page.
Name standard on this site: the elder woman is “Mary (Nancy) Williams, formerly Buckler” at first mention on each page (or “Mary (Nancy) Buckler née Williams” for the years before 1965); her daughter is “Mary Buckler (later Godfrey)”. Quoted documents are left as written.
Priority
Not recorded
Not recorded
Severity
Not recorded
Not recorded
Decision
None yet
No decision yet.
Approved by
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—
Decision date
—
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Closure date
Open
Open.
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