Marriage by certificate

[Davran]

I am intrigued by the marriage cert of my ggrandfather's sister. She was married by certificate in the New Jerusalem Church in Camberwell in 1876. The church was a Swedenborgian church and her husband was Irish, so she was non-conformist and I suppose he could have been Catholic.

Is anybody au fait with the ins and outs of marriage by licence/certificate?

I found the following on Barbara Dixons BMD cert tutorial ............

[Davran]

"By superintendent registrars certificate" is a very rare finding. It is issued for a Church of England marriage but instead of banns being called in the church, notice of marriage has been given to the superintendent registrar. In the early days this would be necessary where services were held so infrequently e.g. in a small chapel,that it was not possible to call the banns on three succesive Sundays and get married all within the three months time limit. Later on it was sometimes used as an expedient if for some reason the vicar did not want to make the forthcoming marriage in the church public knowledge and have the entry in his banns book which anyone can look at. The sort of problem might be where a bride and groom were of different persuasions and the vicar either didn't want the congregtion in general to know or even the bride/grooms family if he thought they might try to disrupt the ceremony. It is sometimes used these days when one of the couple is divorced and the vicar does not want it generally known that he is marrying a divorcee in his church.

The certificate is signed by the minister and the Registrar.

[Mythology]

"Certificate" rather than "Superintendent Registrar's Certificate" was (maybe still is for all I know, I don't keep up to date with modern law) the normal thing for a marriage in a nonconformist church/chapel.
It is basically the equivalent to "After Banns" in an Anglican Church - they couldn't marry "After Banns" in a nonconformist one, but they've given notice to the Registrar under the same "3 weeks" idea.

And the reason it's signed by both the Minister and the Registrar is because that was a legal requirement then for a nonconformist one - I *think* it changed in 1894, but that date is from memory, so don't quote me.

[Mythology]

Afterthought.

There's probably the usual exception for Jews and Quakers - I don't have any of either yet so I've never looked at the post-1837 situation for them.

[Davran]

Great. Thanks, Mythology. I knew someone would know the answer! :)

[uksearch]

"By superintendent registrars certificate" is a very rare finding. .SNIP.

I have read the same information also, but if you take a look at the following you will see that they were not uncommon in this area.
http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9381&page=33&pp=10 (http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9381&page=33&pp=10)
number 329

UK