Marriage Licence Lookup

[Catling121]

Hi all, I hope you're well.

I'm very unlikely to be able to get to Oxfordshire Record Office for some considerable time.

Could anyone who's going sometime do me a huge favour and try to find the marriage licence for a Matthew Townsend and Hannah Bourton, married at Bloxham the 29th November 1747.

If a copy has survived and it says "licence paid for by Robert Townsend of Hook Norton" it will go a long way towards knocking down an extremely long-standing brick wall.

Many thanks if anyone can do this for me!

Chris

[ColC]

There is a parish marriage record on A.....y which simply reads

Matthew Townsend & Hannah Bourton
29 Nov 1747 Bloxham, Oxfordshire by Li


Colin

[Catling121]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for your message. Yes, I've found the marriage. What I need to do is try and find out who paid for the licence. 

Many thanks,

Chris

[emeltom]

The  Oxfordshire Archdeacon's Marriage Bonds doesn't mention them so it is possible the Bond hasn't survived.

Emeltom

[Catling121]

This is what I'm afraid of :/

[CarolA3]

It's on this list of Diocesan bonds complied in 1976; scroll down to line T404:
https://www.whipple.org/oxford/diocesan_marriage_bonds.html#T

These records were stored at the Bodleian Library at that time.  I don't know whether they're available at the Oxfordshire History Centre (St Luke's, Cowley) which is the new version of the County Records Office, but they will be somewhere safe

Good luck

Carol

[emeltom]

That's a much more complete list than the one I originally had downloaded. Thanks for the link.

Emeltom

[emeltom]

Having just said that it is a more complete list, I see that it is missing one of my ancestors who appears on the list I originally downloaded. A case of win some, lose some.

Emeltom

[CarolA3]

There are two lists of licences/bonds issued by two different authorities - the Bishop of the Diocese of Oxford, and the Archdeacon of Oxford.

Here's a link to the website I use which explains the system: https://www.whipple.org/oxford/
(Also includes some hearth tax records for good measure!)

Carol