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> From: [log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Cc: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: clandestine marriage ships from Southampton
> Date: Tuesday, 21 September 1999 1:20
Jeremy,
Many thanks for further information supplied on this subject.
Jo.
>
> A sunnier Gretna Green ?
> postscript to my enquiry about boats carrying couples to the Channel
islands
> for 'quickie' marriages.
> Hardwickes marriage Act of 1753 (which came into effect in 1754) made
illegal
> marriages in England and Wales (except for Jews & Quakers) other than in
a
> parish church by a clergyman, with banns having been read out etc and
with
> regulations as to the rcording of such.
> The Act was actually entitled an act for better preventing of
clandestine
> marriages (26 George 2 c33) but, contrary to some modern writers, was not
> designed to prevent the marriages of runaway heiresses to fortune
seekers,
> but (inter alia) mostly against marriages at the Fleet prison in London.
Some
> 300 000 are recorded there between 1700 and 1750 and there were other
> similarly notorious places eg Sandon, Essex.
> The word 'clandestine' has been misapplied to many unions that were
performed
> for many different reasons, of which secrecy was infrequently a part.
> Analysis of Fleet marriages for partners from Reigate (surrey) shows that
the
> major reason was 'big belly' when the putative father/husband did not
have a
> legal right of settlement in the parish. Such marriages were obviously
> carried out under pressure from parish officials to prevent illegitimate
> births. In one exceptional case the marriage was performed after the
birth
> but before the baptism of the child. Such offspring would otherwise have
> become the responsibility of the parish of residence of the mother.
> Enquiries to the record office in Jersey and responses from geneaologists
> there have provided no evidence that any couples from the mainland were
> married in Jersey or Guernsey in such circumstances.
> The statements of W. E. Tate, 'The parish chest' (1951), p. 64, can not
> therefore be substantiated.
> Recommended reading; Clandestine marriage in England, 1500-1850 -
Outhwaite,
> R. B.: Hambledon Press - 1995
> Jeremy Greenwood
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