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  1. #1
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    Default GRO Missing Marriages - thoughts

    Interesting line in my latest update from the website Durham Records Online.
    RE: Transcription of Sedgefield St. Joseph baptisms 1839-1882 & marriages 1858-1867.

    Quote (presumably they mean Baptisms with no Birth record at GRO):
    "Some of these baptisms and marriages are not in the civil GRO index, so this register may provide the only record of those events".

    Interesting that there were 33 marriages in the 10 year period and they note that 'some' are not in the GRO index. Say it is only 3 missing that is 10% quite a significant proportion...

    It would be interesting to know how many Marriage records were not lodged with the GRO? Certainly makes websites such as Freereg, and sites that transcribe actual registers, even more important......

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    Firstly, it's well-known that not all births were registered prior to 1874.

    Secondly, I note that they don't say anything abut the marriages being recorded in the local Registrar's Office, only that they're not in the GRO Index. Local office and GRO Index registers should be the same, but they aren't always.
    But if the marriages aren't in the local Registrar's Office then what was the Registrar doing in those years? If the church was in existence in 1839, then surely the Registrar should have queried why no marriages were being sent to his office from 1858 onwards? Unless the church wasn't originally 'registered' for marriages when it was first built?

    Possibly the important thing to notice is that St Joseph's is a Roman Catholic church. https://
    durhamrecordsonline.com/updates/2021/07/sedgefield-st-joseph-baptisms-1839-1882-marriages-1858-1867/

    Pam
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    Possibly the important thing to notice is that St Joseph's is a Roman Catholic church
    Most certainly that is the important point.

    In the timescale mentioned, a marriage would only have been legally valid if the registrar had been present to carry out the legal formalities. It was not until 1898 that RC churches could register to perform legal marriages in the same was as CofE churches.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Goodey View Post
    Most certainly that is the important point.

    In the timescale mentioned, a marriage would only have been legally valid if the registrar had been present to carry out the legal formalities. It was not until 1898 that RC churches could register to perform legal marriages in the same was as CofE churches.
    Interesting points. Would a Registrar make a note of a Marriage he attended if the Church did not submit the Marriages to the Registrar at year end? Presumably the absence of the Registrar would not invalidate the Marriage in the eyes of the Church.

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    Would a Registrar make a note of a Marriage he attended if the Church did not submit the Marriages to the Registrar at year end?
    I don't understand what you're getting at there. The registrar would have brought the register and the entry would be completed in the usual manner. Then he'd take the register away again. The church would not "submit the marriages" because they wouldn't possess a statutory register and weren't empowered to perform legally binding marriages.

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    So presumably these "marriages" were performed in order to satisfy Catholic consciences, and there may well be a corresponding legal marriage elsewhere (a register office seems quite likely)? Or, if there was no other marriage, then these ceremonies would have and confer no legal status.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Goodey View Post
    I don't understand what you're getting at there. The registrar would have brought the register and the entry would be completed in the usual manner. Then he'd take the register away again. The church would not "submit the marriages" because they wouldn't possess a statutory register and weren't empowered to perform legally binding marriages.

    Ah thank you. I had naively presumed the Church just submitted their returns to the Registrar every quarter. So if a Registrar attended a Catholic Wedding it would appear in the statutory register. IF no Registrar attended a Catholic Wedding then the Marriage would be most unlikely to appear in the statutory register. Straightforward........

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