Marriages in Parish Registers

This section covers marriages in Church of England parish registers. The information you will find depends on when your ancestor got spliced!

Before 1754

Before 1754, you will find the information is quite basic - typically:

Date.
Name of bride.
Name of groom.
Which parish they were living in, if this was different from where they were marrying.

From 1754 to 1837

In 1753, Hardwicke’s Act was passed. Under then, only Church of England, Jewish and Quaker marriages were deemed valid. Other denominations still had to go through a Church of England ceremony. You might, for example, find your ancestor having a Catholic ceremony, followed by a CofE one.

The act introduced a pre-printed marriage register.

Example

Marriage of Charles RW Watkins

In this case, my gg grandfather and his wife got married discreetly in a distant parish some time after the birth of their first child. Witnesses may or may not give you further clues. James Stanton seems to have been roped in while waiting for the next wedding!

The information you will find is as follows:

Name of groom, where he lived (and sometimes an age, whether bachelor or widowed, and occupation).
Name of bride, where she lived (and sometimes an age, and whether spinster or widow).
Date.
Signatures of the bride, groom, person marrying the couple and at lease two witnesses. (Those who couldn’t write left their mark, as in the example above.)

From July 1837

People could now also get married at a Register Office, non-conformist chapel or a licensed Catholic church.

Example

Marriage of Leila Watkins

This record from the parish register appears similar to the marriage certificate. Note the signatures in parish registers are the actual signatures of the people concerned, unlike certificates you send off for from the General Register Office.

The information you find is as follows:

Year.
Place.
Date.
Names of bride and groom.
Their ages.
Whether a bachelor, spinster, widow or widower.
Rank or profession (occupation) – the bride often doesn’t have one.
Residence at the time of marriage.
Father’s name.
Father’s rank or profession.
Whether by banns or licence.
Signatures of the bride and groom, witnesses (a minimum of two) and the clergyman conducting ceremony – those who can’t write can leave their mark.