Marriage law - have I missed something?

[AnnB]

Many a true word is spoken in jest ......

Back in the 1700s, this fellow's grandfather ran a coach service from Romford (later extended to run from Upminster) via Ilford to London, stopping at Whitechapel and terminating at Aldgate.

So that's the origins of the No. 25 bus I always wondered who started it up when I used to use it
Best wishes
Ann

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

[Rod Neep]

Myth.... the simple answer to marriages in different parishes, despite the rules, is that there are rules, and rules that some clergymen break... erm... bend.

The Gretna Green syndrome is well known, but what is lesser known is that most counties had at least a couple of churches where "no questions were asked". Once you have transcribed the registers for such churches (as I have on a few occasions), then it doesn't take long to realise that a vicar is one of those that bends the rules, as the majority of marriages there are of people from out of the parish! The vicar changes, and then it settles down to the usual pattern again.

Rod

[AnnB]

Diane, if this is a new photo of you, I'd take the camera back
If it's a picture of your dog, I'd take it to the vet
If it's just a comment on Myth's family - I agree

Best wishes
Ann

[Mythology]

" ..... there are rules, and rules that some clergymen break... erm... bend".

Yes, that's obviously the case here, Rod. I've often said that the clergy were a law unto themselves, but I *think* this is the first one of these that I've come across in my lot - I thought that perhaps I'd missed something in the law changes somewhere!

Diane - tell that lazy dog to get up off its backside, run along to Gloucester RO and check the Cheltenham marriages in the late 1820s for me, save me a trip in a couple of weeks time.

[Ken Boyce]

Following up on Rods comment

Here are some notes for those interested that I have collected on UK “Marriage Shops” and on English Churches which at one time or another had a reputation for ‘bending’ the rules for marriages – usually for remuneration

Gretna Green and similar Scottish "marriage shop" records are preserved at a number of commercial and public archives such as The Mitchell Library Glasgow. Many of these marriage vows were repeated later in conventional ceremonies

Liberties of the Fleet Prison – a large number of marriages recorded in notebooks by the various clergy, have been compiled by Mark Herber and published by the SOG in 3 vols entitled Clandestine Marriages.

Mayfair (St George's) Chapel - Rev Alexander Keith - and assorted other London marriage shops are supposed to be at the LMA and/or the PRO. The LDS may have filmed these with other nonconforming records. (I do not have a reference)

Some London area churches notorious for carrying out no questions asked ceremonies ideal for runaways, under age couples, nonconformists, and those requiring privacy or secrecy etc. were

Pre c1800 St James, Dukes Place, Aldgate; and Holy Trinity Minories.

Pre 1754 St Martins in the Fields, - St Benet Pauls Wharf. - Christ Church, Newgate – and a number of City Churches.

Post 1754 St George's Hanover Sq – St Luke Old St - St Marylebone - St Pancras – St Leonards Shoreditch - St Matthew Bethnal Green - many Bermondsey & Southwark Churches

Other English Churches - Manchester Cathedral - St Philips Birmingham - St Philips Sheffield - St Mary Leeds - St Mary Nottingham – and various Churches in Bristol, Norwich and Oxford to name a few places where it was known that the Incumbent did not strictly enforce the requirements for marriage.

Regards

[Pam Downes]

Some London area churches notorious for carrying out no questions asked ceremonies ideal for runaways, under age couples, nonconformists, and those requiring privacy or secrecy etc. were
Pre c1800 St James, Dukes Place, Aldgate;

That would explain why why Phillimore's runs to four volumes for this church.
https://www.rod-neep.co.uk/acatalog/lnd-church.html

Another English church lax in regulations was the Peak Forest Chapel.
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY...est/index.html
then click on 'church records'
(And for Guy, in case you haven't got him - there's a James Etchels in 1745.
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY...pformarae.html )
Pam Downes