10th August 1802 marriage Chelmsford Thomas FINCH and Sarah HUDSON

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Everyone,
On Ancestry I have discovered  a marriage on Pallot's Index for a Thomas FINCH and a Sarah HUDSON, both have the letter "w" against their names, which I presume indicates that they had been previously widowed.
The marriage is given as having taken place in Chelmsford on 10th August 1802.  I was wondering whether anyone could tell me which parish in Chelmsford this marriage might have taken place in.  One word of caution - I have come across a 25th October 1807 baptism for a son Abraham at Chelmsford, Baddow Lane, Independent, so they might have been Nonconformist.  Would this chapel be the same one I've come across as Little Baddow Congregational, or am I getting confused?
Many thanks, Keith

[olleym]

They married at St Mary the virgin, St Peters and St Cedds, aka Chelmsford Cathedral.
I'm not aware of a Baddow Lane, although there is a Baddow Road, this however is 4/5 miles from Little Baddow.

Mark

[Keith Sherwood]

Mark,
Thanks so much for that swift response!  And nice to pick the brains of someone who knows the area so much better than I.  Although I did visit Chelmsford Record Office once a few years ago...
Keith

[nannyj]

Your thomas and Sarah would have to marry in a c of e church in 1802, as Lord Hardwicke’s Act, passed in 1754, required that couples had to be married in the Church of England for their marriage to be legal, regardless of what religion one belonged to.  An exception was made for Jews and Quakers.  The law lasted until 1837 when civil registration began.

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi again, Nannyj!
Thanks so much for keeping me up to speed on the requirements of the times...
I've since found this FINCH family baptising their children in other independent chapels in Essex even earlier on, making them harder to find as they moved around in search of work, I imagine...
Keith

[nannyj]

I'm having the same problem with a few branches of my tree too. A real pain as the ones who are c of e are sooooo much easier to trace!