Hello ejowynne
Circa 1800 my family were a mixed bunch of dissenters.
The Surman Index is a list of Dissenting Ministers, with index cards, usually including places & dates, a birth and death date.
The Marriage Act 1753, full title "An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage", popularly known as Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act.
http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/relationships/overview/lawofmarriage-/Only Jews and Quakers were exempt from the 1753 Act and could marry in their own buildings.
Marriages of Roman Catholics (Papists) who felt they couldn't marry in a C of E church and who married in their own church, were often considered illegal Marriages by the State.
I have discovered that one Catholic Chapel only submitted its Registers back to 1822, when they were requested by the Registrar General (RG) in the 1830s.
However, a Rootschatter discovered, that older Roman Catholic Records for this Catholic Chapel, are still in their Church safe.
I think the Head office of the United Reformed Church which took over from Congregational and Independent Chapels, are another organisation with inherited old Registers.
I have even heard that a Supermarket, holds Registers in its safe, because the supermarket was built over a burial site and a chapel.
Dissenters - Refusing to Attend a Parish C of E ChurchSurviving Marriage Bonds and / or Marriage Allegations (Intentions)First of all there will be no Banns Read (three Sundays in a row) in the Parish Church, so they will need a Licence.
If the License / Licence has not survived, then you should see if there is a Marriage Bond and/or Allegation, usually in the Diocese records (or an area Church Court where some had to apply), mainly in the Man's name, but sometimes the Female had to apply.
For Yorkshire, those in the Borthwick Institute, York, were Indexed and they may look it up, but copies of the filmed originals, often have Occupation (also the Bondsman and his Occupation) on the Bond and their original signatures, or marks.
The Marriage Allegation / Intention form should have their Names, if Bachelor, Spinster, Widower, or Widow and ages, e.g. aged 27 and upwards, the "and upwards" is usually the printed part, suggesting the named person was 27.
Where the person is too young to consent to Marriage, the Parent (often the Father) will give their consent, be named and sign this Marriage form too.
For Durham and some parts of Northumberland the Durham Record Office has many images of the LDS microfilms online, including some Marriage Bonds and Marriage Allegations, in conjunction with Family Search (C of the LDS).
However, these IMAGES cannot be searched by putting the name and dates in the box, on their search page, but must be searched, image by image from several hundred or even thousand digitised images, but it is free, if you are patient.
You may need to get a free Family Search Registration to see images.
https://www.dur.ac.uk/library/asc/collection_information/cldload/?collno=551Durham Diocese Marriage Bonds and Allegations
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1675690Browse 108,000 Durham Diocese Marriage Bond / Allegations images from here ...
https://www.familysearch.org/search/image/index#uri=https://www.familysearch.org/recapi/sord/collection/1675690/waypointsMark
