Registers of marriages are the only records which are completed at the actual event, and are therefore considered the most reliable. These are essential for tracing your ancestors back further than the 19th century. However, there are many pitfalls in their content.

Finding a marriage

• Search parish registers at www.thegenealogist.co.uk
• Use the International Genealogy Index (IGI) at local record offices (although watch out for transcription errors)
• Consult Phillimore’s Atlas and Index of Parish Registers (available for a reduced price from www.genealogysupplies.com) for listings of all churches in an area.
• Baptisms of children can give clues to marriage of parents. Beware that:
  1. couples may have been infertile for several years before first-born appears
  2. many couples married while pregnant
  3. others may have married after the first child was born
  4. the couple need not have married at all!
• The legal age to marry remained 14 for males; 12 for females up to 1929 –if a marriage cannot be found, try searching earlier than the expected time-frame.



Marriages before 1754

• The content in registers varies enormously, from being very informative to recording only spouses’ names and date.
• Original registers may be missing or too poor quality for micro-filming. Check Bishops’ Transcripts for duplicate copies at diocesan record offices.
• Banns entered in registers or separate banns books can indicate if the marriage was to take place in a different parish. The couple may have settlement or removal documents –look for these in local/county record offices.
• Similarly, check for licence applications.
• Be aware that evidence of banns or licence does not prove marriage actually took place. Cases of desertion or breach of promise may be found in church court records at diocesan record offices.
• Consider the possibility of nonconformist marriage – the definitive online site for these records is www.bmdregisters.co.uk – this data is also available to Gold and Diamond subscribers at www.thegenealogist.co.uk.
• ‘Irregular’ (clandestine) marriages took place without banns or witnesses, outside normal hours, at places such as the Fleet Prison. The Fleet Registers are available from 1667-1754 in The National Archives series RG7. Again, these are online at www.bmdregisters.co.uk and www.thegenealogist.co.uk.

Marriages after 1754

• Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act 1753 demanded that everyone in England and Wales (except Quakers and Jews) must marry in an Anglican church.
• Registers included the groom’s occupation and both parties’ home parishes – always note witnesses, who may be family members.