Genealogy Chat

Hi can anyone tell me the difference between being married by certificate and banns. I have a marriage by certificate both parties are widowed

Not heard of a marriage by certificate before. Do you mean marriage by License?

Greeting’s………. Mary.

MARRIAGE via Certificate.

This is where one of the partners
Is not able to attend the reading of the Banns.
( due to being of an other faith )

So appoints a member of the Registrars staff
To sit in to hear them
Then a certificate is issued
Usually Marriage register is marked :~

“ By Certificate of the Registrar.”

By the way “ via Licence” can also be in a Church.

MIKE.

On the marriage cert underneath the couples info is printed "married in the ........ according to the rites and ceremonies of the established church, by ....... or after......... by me .........." the first blank says "parish church" the second "certificate " the third left blank.
Thanks for all the replies Mary

Marriage by Certificate is when the marriage takes place in a Non Conformist Church or a Register Office. Today this will also include the many non church venues used for marriages.

Jennifer

Marriage by licence can take place almost anywhere, including a prison. Licences are often issued when one partner is dying, and the marriage could then take place in the invalid's home, or a hospital.

My gt. uncle married an RC woman in an RC church-he was CofE. Marriage was by certificate and is signed by the Priest and the Registrar.
Sylvia.

They both lived for many years after marriage so may be different religions.
Thanks everyone, Mary

Can I suggest that if you do not know the answer to a question then you should not offer your guesses.
There are many good books around which give the proper answer to the question and an Internet search would have given the answer - which is not shown above.

Banns and License, via the Internet:))

Marriages normally took place following the reading of banns in a couple’s home parish on three successive Sundays. However, they could also be ‘by licence’, dispensing with the requirement for reading the banns and enabling the marriage to take place more quickly, and without publicity.

The majority of those issued were common licences, but some were special licences: the latter allowed for a marriage service to be performed in a church or chapel not normally licensed for weddings, or outside the normal hours.

Reasons for applying for a marriage licence varied. One was speed - useful for people perhaps going abroad or expecting babies.
Another was confidentiality: dispensing with the requirement to announce wedding banns meant that people could marry (or indeed, as was often the case, re-marry) more discreetly.


also

Before a couple could be married in the parish church their "banns" had to be read to the congregation for 3 consecutive Sundays before the union could be blessed. This allowed the locals to bring to the vicar's notice any reason why they should not be married in church (or, in extreme cases, married at all).
Where the couple came from different parishes the banns were read in both and a certificate issued by the vicar who was not performing the ceremony (usually, but not always, the service took place in the bride's parish). It is interesting to note that the parish given is sometimes that where the party resided and not necessarily where they were born.