Perhaps got a bit carried away in old GRO Annual Reports never having looked for them before but came across some numbers, costs etc. The Reports are some 300-500 pages long starting with a summary chapter followed by pages of tables and I've just skimmed them. I'm sure much better professional research has been done.
First the sources:
http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/Show?page=Home The OHPR website - histpop - is an online resource of almost 200,000 pages of all the published population reports created by the Registrars-General of and its predecessors for England and Wales and for Scotland for the period 1801–1920, including all Census Reports for the period 1801–1937, along with ancillary archival material from The National Archivesbut I was continually getting the message “This web service is too busy at the moment. Please try again later.”Some Pdf editions are however available here
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012306664 and on Google Books using search ‘annual report of the registrar general’
Ireland/Northern Ireland Reports 1887 onwards from
http://www.nisra.gov.uk/demography/default.asp57.htmIreland 1864 onwards:
http://cso.ie/en/statistics/birthsdeathsandmarriages/archive/annualreportsonmarriagesbirthsanddeathsinirelandfrom1864to2000/13th Annual Report of the Registrar General
1854 England:
Of the 152744 marriages in the year 1850, [30959, or 36 per cent., were celebrated according to the rites of the established church; 8 were stated to be by special licence; 17413 by licence; 98669 by banns; and 3136 by superintendent registrar's certificate, which may be looked upon as a substitute for the proclamation of Banns or licence. In 11733 instances the preliminary authority for the marriage was not stated by the officiating clergyman.
[table of costs/fees and discussion of Border Marriages attached as screenshot as text would not copy correctly]
England 33rd Report 1870: Of the 181,655 marriages, 137,986, or 76 per cent, were solemnized according to the rites of the Established Church, and 43,669, or 24 per cent., were performed not according to the rites of the Establishment. These proportions corresponded with those in the previous year. Of 100 marriages in the Established Church, 0.01 were by special license, 12 by license, 83 after banns, 3 by Superintendent Registrar's certificate, and in rather more than 1 per cent. it was not stated in which of the foregoing modes the requisite formalities antecedent to the actual ceremony had been observed.
Ireland 11th Report 1874: 24,481 marriages were registered in Ireland during 1874, being in the proportion of 1 marriage to every 217 ·Of the estimated population. 571 men and 2,905 women contracted marriage before they had attained their twenty-first year. The proportion of males married under age was 2.33; of females, 11.87 per cent.
Ireland 1887: Of the 3,640 Marriages according to the rites of the late Established Church, 36 were by special licence, 3,014 by licence, 509 after the publication of banns, 5 on Registrar's certificate, and in 76 instances there was no information afforded as to which of the foregoing methods was adopted.
Ireland 1900 37th Report:
Of the 3,297 Marriages according to the rites of the Church of Ireland, 42 were by special licence, 2,860 by licence, 362 after the publication of banns, 7 on Registrar's certificate, and in 26 instances there was no information afforded as to which of these methods was adopted,
Ireland 1918: Of the 3,566 marriages celebrated -according to the rites of the Church of Ireland, there were 115 by special licence, 3,092 by licence, 351 after the publication of banns ; one marriage was celebrated on 'Registrar's - certificate, and in 7 instances the mode of celebration was not stated.
Some summary tables attached.
Also made some notes on stats for marriage age & literacy but will put them elsewhere later (average 1st time marriage age for men was pretty consistant at 25.6 vs 24.4 for woman 1840-1880).
John
