1866 marriage registered in Great Boughton but where was it?

[Shep]

1866 marriage registered in Great Boughton but where was it? Not as easy as it sounds.

I have the marriage certificate (from the GRO) of a marriage that took place on the 15th November 1866 'at the Register Office in the District of Great Boughton in the County of Chester Flint and City of Chester'. The couple lived in Pulford which is right on the Cheshire / Denbighshire border.
The marriage isn't listed on CheshireBMD or North Wales BMD hence the only source was the GRO.

GENUKI advises that until 1870 Great Boughton had 4 sub-districts. How can I determine which sub-district they attended to get married?  The Sub-districts most likely are : Chester Castle (1837-69) ; Chester Cathedral (1837-69) or Hawarden (1837-69).

Does anyone know where the register offices were for the above sub-districts and what format the ceremony took i.e. was it in a dingy office with a couple of witnesses?

So many questions from what I thought would be a simple marriage location on the certificate.

 

[Victor Harvey]

Google Great Boughton Cheshire Map
Victor

[Shep]

Already tried that Victor, it didn't really help. I know the areas it covered but not how you determine the location / addresses of the sub districts.

[AdrianB38]

It might be useful to look at the coverage information and also see where the sub-district books have ended up. If the Chester Castle & Chester Cathedral books are held by Cheshire West now, and if the coverage on CheshireBMD for those sub-districts is completed for the year, then this would suggest that the marriage was in the sub-district books that ended up across the border in Wales.

But then one should check where the Hawarden books are and see if their coverage in North Wales (presumably) BMD is complete...

I'm guessing that somewhere coverage is incomplete, and I'm hoping that 3 of the 4 have complete coverage, allowing you to deduce that the marriage must be in the 4th.

[Shep]

Thanks Adrian. I did call in to see Mr Flanigan, the head registrar in Chester / Cheshire West last week to show him the certificate. He only has Great Boughton marriages from 1870 onwards ( hence the marriage missing from Cheshire BMD).
It looks like the Chester Castle / Cathedral books have gone missing for the period circa 1866 and as they aren't on North Wales BMD, perhaps missing for Hawarden too.
I'd still like to know where these Register Offices were situated though.

[mazi]

I am about to be shot down in flames but I don't think you could be married in a sub district.
Marriages had to be in " The Registry Office", defined as the government office of the superintendent registrar, only the main district had a register office and a superintendent.

I will go and hide 
Mike

[AdrianB38]

1864 Morris & Co. Directory of Cheshire has (p.42)
Registrar of Births & Deaths for Chester Cathedral District (note - District, not Sub-District! I think terminology is not consistent. AB) Thomas Wood, 21 Werburgh St
Registrar of Births & Deaths for Chester Castle District, George Haswell, 89 Foregate St
Registrar of Births & Deaths for Hawarden District, P Mitchell, Bretton
Registrar of Births & Deaths for Tattenhall District, Thomas James Proudlove, Tattenhall
Superintendent Registrar, Edward Evans, Crypt chambers, Eastgate row.

I guess we don't know if these are their offices or homes but since this is in the Public Establishments section, it would not be logical to use the home addresses unless they worked from home. Probably one should follow up other Directories.

And, err, just look - it's Registrar of Births & Deaths, and not Marriages! Well I never! 

[AdrianB38]

Guy Etchells (to whom, thanks) has provided "Transcripts of Various Acts of Parliament of Interest to the Genealogist" on http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~framland/acts/actind.htm. I have been trying to locate the phrasing about where "civil" marriages could take place but so far failing. You really need to be au fait with the phrasing to stop it getting in the way of the information therein.

My impression is that it did need the involvement of the Superintendent Registrar but I'm not sure if I'm getting the right gist. In fact, I'm not even sure which Act authorised marriages outside the buildings of the previous three denominations and whether the text authorising "civil" marriages is different from the text authorising marriages with the registrar present in "other" chapels.

[KGarrad]

Just speaking of districts and sub-districts I know:

Southmead is/was a sub-district of Bristol Registration district.
You could register births and deaths there, but you could not be married there.
Indeed, my own birth, and those of my daughters and granddaughters were all registered there!

And, just looking at (as an example) BathBMD and the pages for Births Information, Marriages Information and Deaths Information, mention is made of sub-districts for births and deaths but NOT for marriages.

My conclusion is that marriages had to take place at the District Register Office, and not sub-district offices.