Determining maiden name of Alice who had eight children (1744-1762) with William Sellick christened at Stogumber, Somerset, without marriage record?

Question

My 5th great grandfather William Sellick was christened on 2 Oct 1718 at Stogumber, Somerset, England. He and his wife Alice had eight children, the first two christened at Stogumber and the remainder at Monksilver: Robert (1744), John (1747), William (1749), Thomas (1752), Alice (1755), Stephen (1757), Ann (1759) and Joan (1762).

To try and identify Alice's maiden name I have looked at the marriage records for Stogumber and surrounding parishes, but have not found any candidates. However, I suspect that this may indirectly suggest that the marriage occurred in Stogumber in about 1743 because the STOGUMBER MARRIAGES 1717 - 1754 page says:

Unfortunately, there appears to be a large gap in the original Register as there are no records from 1742 through to 1749. Murphy's Law is clearly in force as there are no Bishop's Transcripts for this period either!

So far I have found few Sellick records for this period in Stogumber but, from a Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' Indentures at Ancestry.com, I found that on 29 May 1724 Robert Sellick (father of William) was a Butcher at Stogumber, because he had just taken on an apprentice called John (son of Andrew) Larcum of Cleeve.

I suspect that William being the son of a Butcher, reduces the likelihood of Wills and Land Ownership records being found that might mention his in laws.

I am still hoping to determine Alice Sellick's maiden name - does anyone know an alternative source that might be worth me investigating?

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As a postscript to this question, using Ancestry.com, I may have found an Allice baptised at Stogumber who appears to be a candidate for my 5th great grandmother in the Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812:

Name:   Allice Bicknell
Event Type: Baptism
Baptism Date:   10 Oct 1718
Baptism Place:  Stogumber, Somerset, England
Father: Thomas Bicknell
Mother: Julian Bicknell

Answer 1

Marriage Licenses (as opposed to records of the marriages themselves) will contain maiden names. These documents are processed through a different route so in the event of loss of parish registers and Bishops' Transcripts, offer another possibility. Note two things - firstly these are not actually licenses but Bonds and Allegations - the actual licences rarely survive. Secondly only a small percentage of English marriages used them.

Usually the Licenses end up at the Record Office for either the relevant County or (Anglican) Diocese. Whether anyone has then indexed them is pot luck. The GENUKI site for Somerset doesn't seem to help directly. Maybe the first step is to start at the Record Office end (once you've worked out which RO it might be) and see whether it mentions anything on their site. The Friends of Somerset Archives site has an information leaflet that looks helpful.

The original post suggested that "William being the son of a Butcher, reduces the likelihood of Wills and Land Ownership records being found that might mention his in laws". I think this may be too pessimistic. A butcher with apprentices will surely run his own business. However, you still need to (a) locate the wills and (b) go through them all looking for Sellick wills and Sellick beneficiaries, for a full search. I've no idea about Somerset Wills but wills in general tend not to be indexed by beneficiary. The Friends of Somerset Archives link above also mentions wills - this is an important link as many Somerset wills were destroyed - with the Devon wills - in the Second World War.