Mariages were required to be recorded from 1538 and were
supposed to be entered into a parchment register (book) from
1558. The book had blank leaves, so what was recorded varied a
great deal depending upon the minister. At the least you should
get the date and the name of the groom, but you usually get the
name of the bride as well. In theory, they were supposed to be
performed in the parish church of one of the couple, or in
another church, if by licence.By the C18th, some
clerics were abusing their privileges and conducting marriages
in other places. Hence the famous "runaway brides" and "Fleet"
marriages which took place in taverns near the Fleet prison in
London.

From 1754, as a consequence of the Hardwicke Act (1753),
this was regularised, (Church of England) churches for marriage
had to be licensed and the rules for banns and licences were
defined. The only exceptions permitted were that Jews and Quakers were allowed to make their
own arrangements. A standard printed form was introduced for
marriage registers. This should result in more and uniform
information being available. The form had spaces for the name
of bride and groom, the parish, marital status and occupations
of both, the date of the ceremony, whether by banns or licence
and the signatures (or marks) of the couple, the minister and
two or more witnesses. The witnesses were often relatives or
friends but it often seems to be the case that a parish
official considered it his duty to witness every marriage.
Particularly at the beginning, not all spaces were completed.
There are four entries per page. Banns had to be called for
three Sundays and the "Hardwicke" books had spaces for them to
be recorded, either at the front of the book separately from
the marriages or combined with the marriage entries. In the
latter case, you sometimes find that the banns called relate to
a different couple to the marriage on the same form.

From 1813, as a consequence of the Rose Act (1812), a few
small changes were made. A space was provided for the age of
each of the couple, but "Full" (meaning 21 or over) was a
permitted, and frequent, entry. If under 21, then there should
be an indication of "with consent of father/parents." The
number 21 could be an abreviation for “of full
age.” There are now three entries per page. The Rose
books do not include banns and there is often a gap in these
records until the Marriage Act (1824) came into force which
required the keeping of a separate banns register.

Marriages by licence were done if there was a particular
hurry, in a church outside their own parishes, to avoid
publicity or just as a status symbol. It was also used by
non-conformists to avoid too much scrutiny by the parish church
attendees. Sometimes you will find evidence of a marriage
"enforced" (and paid for) by parish officers in the case of
parents of illegitimate children. There are a wide variety of
types of licence issued by archbishops, bishops, archdeacons,
delegated deputies and local clergy (in the case of peculiars).
A common, or general licence allows marriage in specified
churches, usually the local parish churches of the couple.
Records of these should be found in the CRO (or DRO for early
ones) but many have not survived. Special licences (issued by
the archbishop) allowed marriage in any church and the records
should be found in the PRO. Together with the record of the
licence issued, you may find the required Bonds and Allegations
which were the documents signed by witnesses to certify that
the couple were eligible to marry. The licence itself rarely
survives as it was given to the couple. For gentry marriages,
particularly, it is worth looking at the licences issued by the
Archbishop of Canterbury which come in two groups called the
Vicar-General’s and the Faculty Office Allegations. The
original records are in the Lambath Palace Library in London
and they have been microfilmed by the LDS.

Armitage, George J. (ed).
Allegations for marriage licences issued by the vicar general
of the Archbishop of Canturbury 1660–1694; Harlean
Sociery (vols 30, 31, 33 & 34), London: 1892. (Facsimile
on CDROM; Archive CD Books,
Cinderford, Glos: 2001). There is also an 1886 volume (no.
23) by Colonel Chester which is not included here.

The later ones (1694–1850) are available for searching
at English Origins in associaltion with the
SOG.

Also it can be useful to look at the licences issued by the
Bishop of London which have been indexed in

With the introduction of civil registration in 1837,
marriage before a registrar became available and chapels of
other denominations were permitted to be licensed. In practice
it took until 1890 or later for even the larger chapels to
apply for a licence. Marriage registers from this date are
identical to the registrar’s forms and are two to a page.
See Civil Registration for these
records, though the church copy can provide additional
information (such as the real signatures) when you know exactly
which church to look for.

Marriage settlements or dowrys were independent of any
ceremony but were often made in the case of families with
property. Provisions were also made for the woman's pension if
she should outlive her husband but also to prevent her having
any other claim on the estate. An example
from 1813 has been transcribed and pictured on this
site.

A lot of the information here was obtained from [Wilcox 1999] but additional details
and corrections have been obtained from direct sources and
repository handlists.

Ross = An index of surnames and years only compiled by Dick
and June Ross and available at the Courtney Library of the RIC and the CFHS
Library. Years covered are indicated.

Boyd = An index of marriages country wide and held in bound
typescript volumes by the Society of
Genealogists. Copies for the Cornwall section are held at
the CFHS Library, the West Country Studies Library, Exeter and
the LDS Family
History Center, Helston. English Origins have some counties online,
but not Cornwall.

These from Kenwyn were posted to CORNISH-L by Carol Hughes
on 8 Jan 2003.

07-Feb-1814 Paul Quick of St Ives to Grace Trahar of Kenwyn by Licence
07-Jan-1819 Edmund Paul of Madern to Jean Stewart by Licence
28-Sep-1820 William Barlow of Kenwyn to Harriet Treleaven of Maderne by Licence
06-Oct-1826 Richard Davey of St Just to Charlotte Maynard
30-Nov-1828 Joseph Ladder of Madron to Mary Ann Kendall by Licence
09-Dec-1832 James Stevens Buzza of St Ives to Mary Quick by Licence
20-Feb-1834 William Hodge of St Ives to Ann Clark by Licence
13-Dec-1834 Benjamin Gartrell of Paul to Ann Walters by Licence
25-Jun-1835 Samuel Wilshaw of St Ives to Mary Geach by Licence