Genealogy Chat

Today I had a look at my in-laws's parents certificates - birth certs, death certs, marriage certs etc, and naturalisation papers as their grandparents had emigrated from Poland and Russia. One of the certificates was for a 'Marriage without Licence' at one of London's synagogues in 1930. That particular marriage certificate had less info than a regular one, didn't say the parent's names. I assumed that the term 'marriage without licence' might be for a marriage which had only been registered in the synagogue, not generally registered, or at least not before the wedding, but that's a complete guess. The in-laws didn't know what it meant. Does anyone here know?

Don't know! In C of E churches, you can be married by banns or by licence. Banns means the intent to be married is read out on 3 consecutive Sundays in both the bride and the groom's parish church. To avoid this you could be married by licence which meant you could get wed within 3 days of the licence being issued. Don't know about synagogues, except that my husband's family had a Jewish branch. They had a synagogue wedding,but their daughter married a gentile in the register office. You could try the Jewish Genealoguical Society of Great Britain at www.jgsgb.org.uk Helen

tRY www.weddingguide(.)co.uk I think if you were from another country or not getting married by banns or licence , you applied 15 days before to the superintendent registrar for a notice to marriage and had to show passports etc. KIM

Kim and Helen, thanks for your help! Lorraine