Banns v Licence

[Maiden Stone]

..... I wonder if James was marrying beneath himself and the family didn't like it. So keeping it quiet makes sense - just why wait so long?

When did the bride become 21? They may have been waiting for her birthday.
Perhaps they'd planned to marry earlier but something happened to delay nuptials. Bride or groom or a family member might have been ill for example.

Were they both C. of E.? Sometimes if one or both weren't C. of E. they might marry by licence if they could afford it so that they didn't feel obliged to attend church for reading of banns. Some of my better-off R.C. ancestors married by licence before 1837.

[barryd]

During World War One and Two the Licence would be used more  because the Groom would not be on leave long enough for the  Banns to be read.

[Guy Etchells]

However, the marriage was by licence rather than banns and the licence was granted 2nd June 1828 ie. about 12 weeks before they married. Why would they have applied for a licence rather than just have the banns called? I thought licences were granted so that you could marry quickly?

A Licence was only in force for three months from the date of issue, so they left it late.

Stan

Not if was issued by the Clergy of the Church of England, they were specifically exempted from the three months time limit by the fact that no Superintendent Registrar’s certificate had to be issued.
Only marriages requiring a certificate were subject to the three months time limit.

Some licences were applied for when it was discovered the lady was pregnant but the marriage did not take place until a month or so before birth, this could mean the licence was 6 or more months old at the time of the marriage

See An Act for Marriages in England [17th August 1836.]  sections IV, V, VII & XV

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01l6f/

IV. And be it enacted, That in every Case of Marriage intended to be solemnized in England after the said First Day of March according to the Rites of the Church of England, (unless by Licence or by Special Licence, or after Publication of Banns,) and in every Case of Marriage intended to be solemnized in England after the said First Day of March according to the Usages of the Quakers or Jews, or according to any Form authorized by this Act, One of the Parties shall give Notice under his or her Hand, in the Form of Schedule (A.) to this Act annexed, or to the like Effect, to the Superintendent Registrar of the District within which the Parties shall have dwelt for not less than Seven Days then next preceding, or if the Parties dwell in the Districts of different Superintendent Registrars shall give the like Notice to the Superintendent Registrar of each District, and shall state therein the Name and Surname and the Profession or Condition of each of the Parties intending Marriage, the Dwelling Place of each of them, and the Time not being less than Seven Days during which each has dwelt therein, and the Church or other building in which the Marriage is to be solemnized ; provided that if either Party shall have dwelt in the Place stated in the Notice during more than One Calendar Month, it may be stated therein that he or she have dwelt there One Month and upwards.

V. And be it enacted, That the Superintendent Registrar shall file all such Notices, and keep them with the Records of his Office, and shall forthwith enter a true Copy of all such Notices fairly into a Book, to be for that Purpose furnished to him by the Registrar General, to be called "The Marriage Notice Book," the Cost of providing which shall be defrayed in like Manner as the Cost of providing Register Books of Births and Deaths ; and the Marriage Notice Book shall be open at all reasonable Times without Fee to all Persons desirous of inspecting the same ; and for every such Entry the Superintendent Registrar shall be entitled to have a Fee of One Shilling.

VII. And be it enacted, That after the Expiration of Seven Days if the Marriage is to be solemnized by Licence, or of Twenty-one Days if the Marriage is to be solemnized without Licence, after the Entry of such Notice, the Superintendent Registrar, upon being requested so to do by or on behalf of the Party by whom the Notice was given, shall issue under his Hand a Certificate in the Form of Schedule (B.) to this Act annexed, provided that no lawful Impediment be shown to the Satisfaction of the Superintendent Registrar why such Certificate should not issue, and provided that the Issue of such Certificate shall not have been sooner forbidden in manner herein-after mentioned by any Person or Persons authorized in that Behalf as herein-after is provided ; and every such Certificate shall state the Particulars set forth in the Notice, the Day on which the Notice was entered, and that the full Period of Seven Days or of Twenty-one Days (as the Case may be) has elapsed since the Entry of such Notice, and that the Issue of such Certificate has not been forbidden by any Person or Persons authorized in that Behalf ; and for every such Certificate the Superintendent Registrar shall be entitled to have a Fee of One Shilling

XV. And be it enacted, That whenever a Marriage shall not be had within Three Calendar Months after the Notice shall have been so entered by the Superintendent Registrar, the Notice and Certificate, and any Licence which may have been granted thereupon, and all other Proceedings thereupon, shall be utterly void ; and no Person shall proceed to solemnize the Marriage, nor shall any Registrar register the same, until new Notice shall have been given, and Entry made, and Certificate thereof given, at the Time and in the Manner aforesaid.

Cheers
Guy

[stanmapstone]

I was quoting from 1873 "The Marriages Law of England" by Hammick 4 Geo  4, c.76, s.19

[groom]

Thank you everyone for the information and ideas.

Maria was 21 in the January before they applied for a licence in June and James was 22. Their first child was born the following May, so that wasn't the reason.

I think it is more likely that the marriage wasn't approved of by the groom's family. I need to check again, but I have found marriage notices for some of his siblings, but not for him.

[Guy Etchells]

I was quoting from 1873 "The Marriages Law of England" by Hammick 4 Geo  4, c.76, s.19

Yes but although James T. Hammick's book was published in 1873 the law he is referring to was one in the 4 year of the reign of George IV  (as the source stated 4 Geo  4. i.e. 1823).
The Act I referred to was a later Act 1836 which amended the earlier Acts including the 1823 Acts.
That is one of the problems of using secondary sources rather than original sources.

Cheers
Guy

[stanmapstone]

For marriage in the C of E Common Licences can only be granted for a marriage to take place in a particular church and are only valid for three months. https://www.yourchurchwedding.org/article/common-licences/

Stan

[Guy Etchells]

Stan we are talking about a marriage that took place in 1928 not later legislation or even current legislation, I think we can both agree that legislation changes throughout time and for information to be accurate we have to look at its context in both time and place.

The legal requirement for a Church of England marriage by licence at that time had no time limit at all ( the time limit on common licences was commenced in 1949 19 years later so did not apply).
The law in place at the time was as I have stated An Act for Marriages in England [17th August 1836.] Guliemi IV. Regis., CAP. LXXXV.
None of the Acts of Parliament between the above 1836 Act and the 1949 Act mentioned a time limit on licence for marriage conducted according to the Rites of the Church of England.

These include
An Act to explain and amend Two Acts passed in the last Session of Parliament, for Marriages and for registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages, in England. [30th June 1837.]
An Act to amend the Law relating to Divorce and Matrimonial Causes in England. [28th August 1857.]
An Act for extending the Hours within which Marriages may be lawfully solemnized. [10th May1886.]
Or any of the various other intervening marriage acts including the Ships & Navy Acts of 1879, the Deceased Wife’s Sister’s of 1907 or the Deceased Brother’s Widow’s Act of 1921.

You will be pleased to know the limit of three months was introduced by the Marriage Act, 1949 section 16 (3) for marriage conducted according to the Rites of the Church of England.
I hope this clears this up.

Cheers
Guy

[stanmapstone]

There is a photo of a Marriage Licence dated 1845, published in “Tracing Your Family Tree” by Jean Cole and John Titford. It says;

William, by Divine Providence, Archbishop of CANTERBURY,
Primate of all ENGLAND and Metropolitan.  To our well-beloved in CHRIST.

John Smith of the Parish of Saint Mary Islington in the County of Middlesex a Bachelor ad Mary Brown of the Parish of  Saint Andrew Holborn London a Spinster
GRACE and HEALTH. WHEREAS ye are, as it is alleged, resolved to proceed to the Solemnization of true and lawful Matrimony

and that you greatly desire that the same may be solemnized in the Face of the Church: We being willing that these your honest Desires may be the more speedily obtain a due Effect, and to the end  therefore that this Marriage may be publicly and lawfully solemnized in the Parish  Church of

Saint Andrew Holborn aforesaid

by the Rector, Vicar, or Curate thereof, without the Publication or Proclamation of the Banns of Matrimony, provided there shall appear no Impediment of Kindred or Alliance or of any other lawful cause, nor any Suit commenced in any Ecclesiastical Court, to bar or hinder the Proceeding of the said Matrimony, according to the tenor of this licence: And likewise, That the Celebration of this Marriage be had and done publicly in …….
The aforesaid Church …….. between the Hours of Eight and Twelve I the Forenoon. We, for lawful Causes, graciously grant this our Licence and Faculty, as well to you the Parties contracting, as to the Rector, Vicar, Curate, or Minister of ……… the aforesaid parish  who is designed to solemnize the Marriage between you, in the Manner and Form above specified, according to the Rites of the Book of Common Prayer, set forth for that Purpose, by the Authority of Parliament.
Given under the Seal of our Vicar General this fourth  day of March  in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-five, in the Seventeenth Year of our Translation,


A paper-covered seal is suspended from the licence and it is annotated “This licence to continue in force only Three Months from the Date hereof”.


So it looks like the church was still keeping a three month restriction on a licence.
Stan