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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: Cockneyrebel on Wednesday 06 February 19 12:27 GMT (UK)
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Can't remember why it was that in the past people married on Xmas Day, was it because it was a day off from their work? Vicars must have been busy!
Cr
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I am sure that is the reason, my parents got married on Easter Sunday 1937 for the same reason
Louisa Maud
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https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/christmas-day-weddings-1501869494.html
Gadget
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Given it has always been a time for church services, family, celebration and feasting it was a good time to share weddings without losing work time.
And vicars are always busy at Christmas time anyway.
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Brilliant article. Thanks Gadget.
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Xmas Day in Scotland was just a working day & couples often married at Ne'erday (New Year!)
Skoosh.
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There is a previous topic on Christmas Day weddings on RootsChat https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=705093.0
Stan
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Thank you very much All.
Cr
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Be careful not to view the Xmas of the past in the same way as the obsession it has become today.
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George Parsons married Eliza Watson at the Wisbech General Baptist Chruch on Christmas Day 1854 and by the middle of January they were on their way on the clipper "Omega" to Australia, where George carved out a very profitable business as Blacksmith, Waggonwright and coachbuilder, on the main road out of Melbourne to the Castlemaine goldfields.
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Sunday was always day or rest, today if you apply for any job now you have to be aware you will be asked to work on a Sunday as part of your contract if needed, bring back the old days when families could share Sundays together whether it be going to church or a family day out, I am sure retailers don't take any more money on a Sunday, it is spread over 7 days
I certainly would not work on a Sunday unless there was a special reason to
Louisa Maud
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I was a big fan of Sunday working as it was double-time & selling your labour at the highest price is common-sense! ;D
Skoosh.
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Can't remember why it was that in the past people married on Xmas Day, was it because it was a day off from their work? Vicars must have been busy!
Cr
For many it wasn't a day off.
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If you don’t want to work on a Sunday, don’t get a job which requires it. Personally, I see nothing different between the position of shop workers, nurses, emergency service personnel or, for that matter, vicars.
I see no reason why the religious fraternity/minority should dictate what the rest of us should or shouldn’t do or when we should or shouldn’t do it.
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Ray, it is a matter of personal choice, my choice is, I do not want to work on a Sunday unless I am involved in some sort of service for the public, I was really initially meaning shops opening on a Sunday, nothing to do with religion
Louisa Maud
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Louisa Maud, I thought that was what I said. My wife worked Sundays and Xmas day because she worked in the NHS. I didn't but I wouldn't have objected to doing so.
What I do object to, however, is being told that I can't do "X" because it's against the law to do so purely because the religious lobby has the ear of the politicians. Forcing a shop to open (as is the case with shops selling bread in France)is one thing but forcing them to close is entirely another.
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Despite there being a claim there was a tradition of Christmas day marriages the parish registers do not seem to bear this out except for a few parishes for a few years mainly in the 19th & 20th centuries.
E.G. St James the Great, Bethnal Green from 1866, but this church and similar practised free weddings and increased the number of weddings all year dramatically by this from 108 in 1864 to 1105 in 1866 & 1208 in 1867 but these were not confined to Christmas.
See http://www.royall.co.uk/royall/marriages-for-free.php
From the research I have done Boxing day was a more common day for weddings, yes there were weddings on Christmas day but in most parishes for most years no more than any other day of the week.
Cheers
Guy
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My 2 great grandparents were married in Alford (Lincs) church on 25th December 1797. Apparently that day there was no fee to be paid
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My nan and grandad married Christmas day 1920 at St. Matthews Church, Duddeston, Birmingham along with several other couples.
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I was a big fan of Sunday working as it was double-time & selling your labour at the highest price is common-sense! ;D
Skoosh.
Nice one Skoosh. Preferably in a fully unionised environment.
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Of course Roger! ;D
The days of ministers lying down on Hebridean piers to try & stop Sunday ferries are thankfully long gone in Scotland.
Skoosh.
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I doubt if many people get double time for Sunday working now, and there are not many fully unionised environments.
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I agree T of the H, I think you will find it is part of the new contracts that came in roundabout 1990
Louisa Maud
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Of course Roger! ;D
The days of ministers lying down on Hebridean piers to try & stop Sunday ferries are thankfully long gone in Scotland.
Skoosh.
Presumably they have all migrated southwestward?
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I doubt if many people get double time for Sunday working now, and there are not many fully unionised environments.
Much of the problem regarding the failure of Sunday train services. No longer paid for working on some companies.