 The marriage is disputed by some sectors because no records were found regarding the union, discounting the unusual events of that day, even if it was attested by Josephine herself and the officiating priest.Josephine was born in Victoria Barracks in Hong Kong on October 3, 1876, to Irish parents James Bracken, a corporal in the British Army, and Elizabeth Jane McBride, who were married on May 3, 1868, in Belfast, Ireland.After her mother died shortly after childbirth, her father gave her up for adoption.