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Topic: Civil Marriages in the 19th century question please (Read 245 times)
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eilidh
RootsChat Veteran
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Posts: 652
Peenie
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Hello,
My research has shown several of my ancestors were
married in Civil Marriages starting 1878.
Would anyone know the background to a civil marriage.
Is it similiar to going to a registry office these days.
I always thought in the 1800's that getting married in
the parish church was the accepted thing.
Just curious 
bye
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CATER, Braintree, Colchester & Leek
CHIVAS, Fraserburgh Scotland, Canada, USA
DIGBY, Braintree, Colchester, Essex
DONALDSON, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Canada, USA
McKIE, Kirkudbright,Wigton, Whithorn
PICKERING, Leek, Staffordshire
SHALLCROSS, Leek, Staffordshire
STONEHEWER, Leek, Staffordshire
TIDESWELL, Leek, Staffordshire
VERNON, Leek, Staffordshire
WALKER, Holywood
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Mean_genie
RootsChat Veteran
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Posts: 536
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Assuming you are referring to England and Wales, civil marriages began in July 1837, but they were only a tiny minority of marriages. You're quite right that marriage in the parish church was still the norm in the 19th Century. Registrars performed marriages in non-C of E registered places of worship, and kept the registers, but they are clearly identifiable as Baptist, Catholic etc etc by the phrase 'According to the Rites and Ceremonies of ... '
True civil marriages would be in the Register Office (although I have never been able to find out where that was in some districts where there was no identifiable office in the early years). One of the reasons they were not popular was that the RO was often in or adjacent to the workhouse!
The people who did marry in Register Offices might have done so because the bride and groom were of different religious denominations, or there was no church or chapel of their particular faith nearby. And it has just occurred to me that close friends and families of Registrars might favour them too. (I have no idea if this is the case, I have literally only just thought of this.
Mean_genie
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eilidh
RootsChat Veteran
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Posts: 652
Peenie
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Hello Mean_genie
Yes all the marriages were in Stoke, I was just a
little curious as there were a few
Many thanks, I appreciate your input.
bye
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CATER, Braintree, Colchester & Leek
CHIVAS, Fraserburgh Scotland, Canada, USA
DIGBY, Braintree, Colchester, Essex
DONALDSON, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Canada, USA
McKIE, Kirkudbright,Wigton, Whithorn
PICKERING, Leek, Staffordshire
SHALLCROSS, Leek, Staffordshire
STONEHEWER, Leek, Staffordshire
TIDESWELL, Leek, Staffordshire
VERNON, Leek, Staffordshire
WALKER, Holywood
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Little Nell
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Posts: 6069
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Apparently, approximately 2% of marriages were register office marriages in the early years, but grew steadily.
I have also read (but do you think that I can find the particular reference at the moment  ) that certain areas of the country favoured them more than others.
Nell
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eilidh
RootsChat Veteran
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Posts: 652
Peenie
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Hi Nell
I will have to find out more about this. It has
got me intrigued.
Many thanks for your info
bye
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CATER, Braintree, Colchester & Leek
CHIVAS, Fraserburgh Scotland, Canada, USA
DIGBY, Braintree, Colchester, Essex
DONALDSON, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Canada, USA
McKIE, Kirkudbright,Wigton, Whithorn
PICKERING, Leek, Staffordshire
SHALLCROSS, Leek, Staffordshire
STONEHEWER, Leek, Staffordshire
TIDESWELL, Leek, Staffordshire
VERNON, Leek, Staffordshire
WALKER, Holywood
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Little Nell
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I found it - apparently it was more popular in the "far north" of England, the south-west and Wales.
Nell
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Mean_genie
RootsChat Veteran
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Posts: 536
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Nell
That makes a lot of sense - areas where Nonconformity was strongest would be where you might expect people to take advantage of an alternative to the CofE. Can I ask you what the source was for that, because I'm really interested in all these kind of details (sad, isn't it).
And now I will have to go and find the table I have somewhere that gives the figures for different kinds of marriage ceremonies in the mid-19th Century. I know it's in Parliamentary Papers somewhere...
Mean_genie
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Little Nell
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It was in The family tree detective by Colin Rogers
Nell
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Mean_genie
RootsChat Veteran
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Posts: 536
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Thanks Nell
I have a copy of it somewhere that I haven't opened for years.
I found the table that I mentioned before, and it covers the years 1837-1855. A rough mental calculation based on the figure it contains shows that Register Office marriages started out at less than1% of the total, was about 2% by 1845, rising to about 5% by 1855.
It was in House of Commons Parliamentary Papers in 1857
Mean_genie
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eilidh
RootsChat Veteran
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Posts: 652
Peenie
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Hello
I would like to thank everyone for
responding to my thread.
I certainly know a lot more about
Civil Marriages now 
bye
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CATER, Braintree, Colchester & Leek
CHIVAS, Fraserburgh Scotland, Canada, USA
DIGBY, Braintree, Colchester, Essex
DONALDSON, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Canada, USA
McKIE, Kirkudbright,Wigton, Whithorn
PICKERING, Leek, Staffordshire
SHALLCROSS, Leek, Staffordshire
STONEHEWER, Leek, Staffordshire
TIDESWELL, Leek, Staffordshire
VERNON, Leek, Staffordshire
WALKER, Holywood
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