The term ‘Fleet marriages’ (named after London’s Fleet prison) has become synonymous with irregular or clandestine marriages, those taking place away the home parish of the spouses, without banns or licence, or outside of the normal hours. While they breached canon law, these marriages were still considered legally valid until 1754 for couples from all ranks of society.

In fact, there were many such places all over the country. There was no actual stigma to marrying clandestinely, and such was the popularity of this way of marrying that by the 18th century, it had become the exception that proves the rule.

An early attempt to stop this practice, the 1695 Marriage Duty Act, aimed to put an end to its scandals and irregularities, and its blatant deviation from that which is prescribed by church authorities. The Act attempted to penalise offending clergymen; however, the practice was bound to continue, because the location of these marriages was outside the jurisdiction of the church.

Rules of the Fleet
In London, the area surrounding the Fleet debtor’s prison was known distinctively as ‘the Rules [or Liberties] of the Fleet’. Here, prisoners, whose number also included unscrupulous clergymen, were allowed to roam free, in exchange for paying their debts back to the prison. There was a plentiful supply of disgraced clergymen, those who had lost their benefice, who could effectively earn enough to pay their way out of prison by marrying couples in the prison chapel. If caught, though, clergymen conducting clandestine marriages were liable to transportation.

The records of the period show that more than a staggering quarter of a million Fleet marriages were conducted in the space of just 50 years. By the 1740s, over half of all weddings in London were carried out in this manner. So, under what circumstances were these kind of marriages useful? Typical examples included:

• those who had something to hide, like a pregnancy
• couples who did not have parental consent. Contrary to what we may think, these were not always elopements of children – the average age for men was 29, for women 23
• soldiers and sailors with limited leave, or immigrants, keen to get established as soon as possible
• a clandestine marriage avoided the rule regarding residence, ie that a couple had to reside in the parish for at least four weeks prior to marriage
• others objecting to banns being read out in church, who preferred the privacy of such a venue
• marriage licences, as an alternative to banns, were costly and so this method of marriage was the only other option.

Most of the couples originated from London and the neighbouring counties, but as word spread, many would travel to the area, perhaps from many miles away, to take advantage of this technical loophole. However, some couples may not have been intent on marriage – they were simply approached by unscrupulous ‘touts’ in the area, drumming up trade for the parson.

The ceremony
The ceremony could be completed in as little as 15 minutes – no questions asked, no stipulations made, except for the amount of the fee payable or the quantity of liquor to be drunk!

The Fleet prison itself included a coffee house, taproom, public kitchen and eating room, and even sports facilities. By 1742 it had become a notable entertainment venue, and advertisements in newspapers did not discourage those who intended marriage there. Prison warders would take a cut for turning a blind eye, despite fines imposed for doing so.

As tighter restrictions were introduced, the marriage trade was forced out into the surrounding streets. Numerous inn-keepers, shopkeepers and even houses of ill-repute situated within the ‘Rules of the Fleet’ would offer their premises for a share of the profits, advertising ‘Cheap Weddings Performed Here’. Keepers of taverns within the Rules would even keep a parson on the staff, at a weekly salary of 20 shillings. These places were notoriously squalid, dark and damp, dimly lit with candles, and crowded with drunken revellers, gamblers and the like. Most taverns near the Fleet kept their own ‘registers’, although the content was often illegible and hurriedly produced in a haphazard fashion. The parsons entered basic details of the weddings, even producing their own marriage certificates.

Hardwicke’s Marriage Act
Lord Hardwicke’s 1753 Marriage Act For the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriages finally changed the situation when it came into force on 25 March 1754:

• all marriages should be subject to banns being published or a licence obtained
• that, in either case, the marriage should be solemnized in church by a recognized clergyman
• that in the case of minors, marriage by licence must be by the consent of parent or guardian;
• at least one of the parties must reside in the parish where the marriage was solemnized
• the entry must be signed by both parties and at least two witnesses
• the record of the marriage must be made on a printed form, bound into a register.

However, Jewish and Quaker ceremonies were exempt from the Act, and the Act did not apply to Scotland. Even into the 19th century, census enumerators had problems in accounting for the marriages of English couples living near the Scottish border, because couples could still elope to places like Gretna Green without the need for banns or licence.