Genealogy Chat

My Grandparents were married by special licence whilst he was a Serving Soldier their first child had been born 2 weeks earlier my other grandparents were also married by licence they had to go to the next town to be married because the local parish church was being repaired Bren

Getting married by licence means that you can either get married quicker, or without other people knowing about it (which they would if the banns were read). It may mean that the bride was very pregnant, was a recent widow, or that one of them was not being very truthful about their age.

Karen, Don't dismiss this marriage just because you can't find baptisms until much later. It's possible that they were dissenters (a reason to marry by licence) and had some children in that 15 years who would consequently not have been baptised in the parish church. Then later they might have chosen to (or felt forced to) either come back to the anglican church or use it for the baptisms of the later children. I agree, a 15 year gap is pretty big, and then 6 in 11 years, but don't rule it out completely until you find something more concrete one way or another. Best of luck, Cazza

Hi Many thanks for everyones answers. I have emailed the records office to see if they can provide any information. I'm not sure if this is my ggggg Grandparents marriage as I cant find any childrens baptisms until 1785 and then they had 6 over 11 years, which would mean that they didnt have any children for nearly 15 years from when they got married which doesnt seem right to me, but this was the only marriage I could find in the local area where the names tallied up - oh well, take one brick wall down and then replace half of it :-) Karen

In Scotland until the 1920's you could be forced by the local Sheriff to go to the nearest city and marry if you were found to be living 'over the broom' with someone - like my grandparents lol tsk tsk

On your next visit, do ask whether the allegation or the bond survives. The information can vary amazingly from time to time and place to place, but you may get: Ages of the parties Marital status of the parties Occupation of the groom Parish of the parties Name parish and status of a guardian Name parish and status of the bondsman Very often the local family history or record society has indexed what survives. Hampshire, Devon and Wiltshire are counties I know of with very good runs. Brenda

Helen You are correct about the effect of a Special Licence. It is used where the couple wish to marry in a parish church and neither of them is resident within that parish. My husband and I did this when we married. I wanted to be married in the church where my mother's family had lived and worshipped for the past 100+ years, a long way from where we both lived. We had to justify our choice, and get the permission of the vicar of the parish where we lived, and we then received from the Archbishop a most magnificent document with a huge seal on it. Unfortunately, we had to hand this over on the marriage (but I kept a photocopy!). Quite an undertaking. Tina

Not many actaul licences have survived, as these would have been taken by the bridgrooms. Marriage licence bonds and allegations are more likely to have survived and if the couple came from the same diocese and were being married in that diocese then the records should be at the local record office. However, under certain circumstances they may have had to apply to either the Vicar General or the Faculty Office, and the Vicar General could grant licences to anyone anyway. It depended on choice, or where they lived and where they were getting married. Cazza

Ways of getting married: "(1) "by certificate" which would be found on a marriage entry in a register office marriage register or in a non-conformist marriage register. It shows that the couple waited 3 weeks between giving notice and getting married. (2) "by licence" which would be found in the same set of registers and would indicate that the couple may have married with less than three weeks between giving the notice and getting married (minimum of 1 clear working day). However - a licence lasts three months so the marriage wasn't necessarily done in a rush. It may have been easier to give only the one licence notice rather than the two that would have been needed for a marriage by certificate if the bride and groom lived in different districts. (3) "after banns" which can only be found in a Church of England marriage. It is the equivalent of the certificate for the register office/non-conformist churches. (4) "by common licence" which can only be found in a Church of England marriage. The licence has been issued by the Bishop for the diocese and I believe is the equivalent of the licence in a register office or non-conformist church. (5) "by special licence" which can only be found in a Church of England marriage. The licence has been issued by the Archbishop not the Bishop. I believe that this would allow the couple to get married in a church which is not the usual parish church for either of them but I am not sure of this. (6) "by Registrar Generals" which could be found on any marriage certificate except for one where the marriage was by the rites of the Church of England. It is issued when one of the couple is dying and it allows a marriage ceremony to take place at any location at any time of the day or night. (7) "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." This info from the extremely useful website: http://home*.clara*.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd*.htm which provides lots of info about births/marriages/deaths certs. Remove * first. nell

Marriage by licence was more of a status symbol than anything. For those that could afford to it meant the rest of the parish didn't get to know their business, as banns were read so that people could object to the marriage; they didn't have to wait that 3 weeks; but it also showed they had a certain social standing. The bridegroom had to bring someone (a friend or relative) along with him when he applied for the licence and they'd usually enter into a bond so that if the marriage turned out to be illegal, the forfeited that sum. Poor people wouldn't have been able to put such sums of money up as suriety. Also, many dissenters married by licence as they objected to the banns being read in an Anglican church. Cazza

There is also cases where the couple were wealthy and did not want the publicity that would come with the reading of Banns. Sue:-)

If neither person came from the parish in which they wished to marry, a licence would often be needed. Sue:-)

Usually, marrying by licence means you dont have to wait the 3 weeks. Could be because bride was very pregnant, or that groom was in the Military and only had a short leave. Just a couple of possibilites, there could be more.

uSUALLY SOME URGENCY.LIKE A PREGNANCY. Banns tke time ,but a lisence is a much quicker way of marrying. Rose

Hiya I was at Oxfordshire Records Office yesterday and I think I found my ggggg Grandparents marriage (in 1769), but it says they were married by licence and not banns. What circumstances would you get married by licence? and where would I find out more info about this licence? - I ran out of time to ask at the records office :-( Karen