You may have come across a reference in your family history research to a couple marrying by licence, and wondered what this means.
What is a marriage licence?
A marriage licence was authorisation for a couple to marry outside the normal practice. The vast majority of couples in the past married in their local parish church (or that of one party) after banns were called in three successive weeks. This meant the forthcoming wedding was known to locals, so any objections could be made.
Occasionally this wasn’t convenient – a couple might wish to marry in a hurry and couldn’t wait the three weeks, or wish to marry more discreetly. A licence enabled a couple to marry without publication or calling of banns in church.
Marriage licences date back to the middle ages, but records rarely survive before the 17th century. From 1604 they could be issued only by the ecclesiastical authorities which had jurisdiction over the parish where the marriage was to take place. Church of England Canons 101 to 103 of 1604 required that licences could only be issued 'upon good caution and security taken', to ensure no one lied about their freedom to marry.
What records were created?
Anyone applying for a licence was required to enter into a bond which was usually filed with a marriage allegation. The marriage bond, as it is usually known, was most often made by the bridegroom, and is in two parts:
- The declaration (in Latin until 1731) by the bondsmen, or guarantors, that there was no impediment to the proposed marriage, and that it would meet the requirements of the Church of England, with the bondsmen's names and occupations and the sum in which they were bound, i.e. the amount of money they would be forced to pay if their declarations turned out to be false.
- The condition, giving the names of the parties and the place of the intended marriage.
Another document created by the licencing process was the marriage allegation, a sworn statement made by one of the parties that there was no known impediment to the marriage and that it met the requirements of the laws of the Church of England. Where either party was a minor, written consent of the parents or guardians was required. Allegations normally give the names, parish, approximate age, and marital status of both bride and groom and the occupation of the groom. Note that there was no actual check of the information at the time, which was the reason for the potential financial penalty which could be enforced by means of the bond.
The licence option was more expensive, so generally only the better off would have used them, and they did not always choose to do so. Marriage licences can still be issued today for weddings in the Church of England.
The actual marriage licence itself was presented by the couple to the officiating minister, who in most cases destroyed them. Sometimes they may be found among the parish records where the marriage took place, but most marriage licences have not survived. We have an excellent index of the licences we do hold in parish collections; a particularly good set survives for Reading St Giles. The index is no longer being added to, but newly deposited marriage licences will all be catalogued with the names of the parties included on our searchable online catalogue.
The other place where you may very occasionally find original licences is in the Berkshire Archdeaconry records – we suspect these relate to disputed marriages. Very few survive and only for the period 1681-1710. They are all indexed and can be found from a name search of the catalogue.
It is the bonds and allegations which researchers usually mean when they ask for a licence. Where they are to be found will depend on who granted the licence, and this depends partly on the parish.
Where can you find them?
The Archdeacon of Berkshire or his surrogates could issue licences for the majority of Berkshire parishes. Most of the original records were sadly destroyed during WWII by the bomb which hit Reading town centre. One of the casualties was the lawyer’s office where the licences were then stored. However, we do have a card index based on an early 20th century transcript. The earliest entry is from 1616 and it goes up to 1846, although there is a long gap around the time of the Civil War.
Within our Archdeaconry records, we do hold some miscellaneous marriage licences, bonds, and allegations that must have strayed from the main series which were destroyed. These have all been indexed and are available to view on our online catalogue:
D/A2/d2 Papers relating to marriage including licences, 1623-1768
D/A4/9 Marriage bonds for April-November 1618, and marriage allegations for the year 1839
The archdeacon or other person able to grant licences could also appoint surrogates, usually clergy, who could also grant licences and collect the fees, and would then send the bonds and allegations to the Archdeacon. D/A2/c184 consists of the bonds these surrogates entered into with the archdeacon, 1754-1835.
Records elsewhere
Bishops could also issue licences. Until 1836, Berkshire came under the Salisbury diocese and bishop, bonds and allegations from this period are now at Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office, but we have microfiche indexes. After 1836 Berkshire was in the diocese of Oxford, so later records are with the Oxfordshire Archives.
A few Berkshire parishes were subject to peculiar jurisdiction, outside the control of archdeacon and bishop. Bonds for Faringdon peculiar, which consisted of the parishes of Great Faringdon and Little Coxwell, have survived for the period 1664-1740 within our archdeaconry records (D/A2/c190-191)
The archbishop of Canterbury has superior jurisdiction over the whole country, so could grant licences to marry in any church, these records are at Lambeth Palace Library. As well as issuing ordinary or “common” licences, the archbishop, and only the archbishop, can also issue special licences, which enable marriage in places not normally registered for marriages and at times not normally permitted. Today they will normally only be issued in exceptional circumstances, for instance a deathbed wedding in hospital.
Hopefully this has helped answer any questions you may have about marriage licences, do get in touch if you have more!