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marriage in cathedral's

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  • marriage in cathedral's

    i was wondering what type of people got married in cathedral's.
    i've just found out my ancestor's were married in manchester cathedral in 1823, and was wondering if it was something anyone could do?

  • #2
    Yes! Manchester Cathedral was also the parish church, so anyone who lived in the parish could marry there.

    It was also, for many centuries, a "peculiar" church. This means that it came directly under the control of the King, not the ecclesiastical authorities and could make its own rules, which it did.

    One of the attractions of a "peculiar" like Man Cath was that it performed "no questions asked" marriages, so runaways/bigamists etc from all over the country travelled there to marry.

    It was especially busy on Christmas Day, when the marriage fee was waived, and reputedly hundreds of couples married that day, queueing up the aisle, although Guy on this forum states that he has looked at the registers and the volume of marriages appears to be the same on Xmas Day as any other.

    Lots of my relatives married there and they were not grand at all.

    OC

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    • #3
      St. Philip's Birmingham, which I think is the cathedral, seems to have also been a local magnet.
      Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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      • #4
        wow, that's so interesting. i just wondered, because the bride's family were extremely rich, and not much is known of the groom.

        it's such a beautiful church too.

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        • #5
          my 3 x g grandparents married at Manchester Cathedral.. ....he was from Salford , she was from Dunham Massey , so I don`t know why the chose the Cathedral...unless its in the Salford area ?....allan;)
          Allan ......... researching oakes/anyon/standish/collins/hartley/barker/collins-cheshire
          oakes/tipping/ellis/jones/schacht/...garston, liverpool
          adams-shropshire/roberts-welshpool
          merrick/lewis/stringham/nicolls-herefordshire
          coxon/williamson/kay/weaver-glossop/stockport/walker-gorton

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          • #6
            I have a few folk who married in churches which later became cathedrals.
            ~ with love from Little Nell~
            Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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            • #7
              i dont think it is allan. ill check.

              it's in central manchester on victoria street.

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              • #8
                My ancestors worshipped in Derry cathedral, that was the church for all their ceremonies and they didn't have two pennies to rub together.

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                • #9
                  Some of my most poverty-stricken ancestors were married in Manchester Cathedral.

                  There's a lovely picture of it here, dating from 1860:


                  Last edited by Mary from Italy; 29-03-09, 18:38.

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                  • #10
                    mary, that's beautiful.

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                    • #11
                      I've replaced the pic with a link, because I'm not sure if I'm breaching copyright by posting it directly here.

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                      • #12
                        The other point about Man Cath being the parish church...the ancient parish of Manchester covered thousands of square miles, lol, so it inevitably saw a lot of business!

                        OC

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Olde Crone Holden View Post
                          Yes! Manchester Cathedral was also the parish church, so anyone who lived in the parish could marry there.

                          It was also, for many centuries, a "peculiar" church. This means that it came directly under the control of the King, not the ecclesiastical authorities and could make its own rules, which it did.

                          One of the attractions of a "peculiar" like Man Cath was that it performed "no questions asked" marriages, so runaways/bigamists etc from all over the country travelled there to marry.

                          It was especially busy on Christmas Day, when the marriage fee was waived, and reputedly hundreds of couples married that day, queueing up the aisle, although Guy on this forum states that he has looked at the registers and the volume of marriages appears to be the same on Xmas Day as any other.

                          Lots of my relatives married there and they were not grand at all.

                          OC
                          I don’t know which posting about that you are referring to O.C. but my records for Manchester Cathedral only cover a short period 1573-1653.
                          During that time there was only two weddings on Christmas Day.
                          I would assume it was a posting on Christmas Day marriages in general.

                          In the many thousands of parish registers I have viewed (mainly pre 1837) I have never seen any parish with a large number of marriages on Christmas Day (i.e. more marriages than the particular church commonly has on any other day).

                          I would not rule out it happening in an occasional church in later times but it certainly was not the normal procedure.

                          I would also add that whenever the suggestion crops up nobody has ever displayed transcripts or linked to a site showing transcripts of such an occurrence.
                          Cheers
                          Guy

                          PS
                          I have searched the forum and found my posting it states-

                          "...What really caught my eye though was the mention of Christmas weddings.
                          I have been on the look-out for these for a few years now but never seem to manage to find them.
                          Unfortunately I only have just 78 years of marriage transcripts for Manchester 1573-1651 and in that time can only find 2 Christmas weddings.
                          Do you know when the Christmas weddings started there, was it in Victorian times?
                          Cheers
                          Guy "
                          Last edited by Guy; 30-03-09, 07:32. Reason: PS added
                          Guy passed away October 2022

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                          • #14
                            I've just done a "mini survey" of the Manchester Cathedral marriages avaliable on the IGI (they go up the the mid 1870s).

                            I looked for the frequency of 25th Dec marriages across 20,000 marriages (that's only a fraction of those available). Overall there were around three marriages in every 200 conducted on Christmas day, which doesn't seem an excessive percentage. I couldn't find any period where the numbers were particularly higher than any other.

                            Having said that, who knows how complete the IGI marriage records are for that church?

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                            • #15
                              Yes, I was talking about marriages in the 1800s.

                              I saw this information somewhere on a website ages ago - it was actually referring to the Vicar or Curate who performed large numbers of Xmas Day marriages at Man Cath. It referred to the queue of prospective bridal couples up the main aisle.

                              It caught my eye at the time because (apart from being of interest in itself) someone had told me that their great granny was married there by proxy in the 1800s - the groom had failed to turn up on two previous occasions and things were getting rather desperate. Her father and brother went off to find the groom and her younger brother stood proxy for the groom.

                              I'll see if I can find it.....

                              OC

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                              • #16
                                Naturally, I cannot find the article.

                                I am wondering now if I am guilty of the sin I berate everyone else for! That of believing something to be true, because I have heard/read it so many times that it MUST be true!

                                I have had this "fact" in my mind for many years, long before the internet, so must have also read it in a book.

                                Do we have anyone in the area who would be prepared to nip into the Cathedral and ARSK, lol.

                                OC

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                                • #17
                                  lol OC - I tend to agree with you - I'm sure I have "known" this "fact" for years (though I don't have any relatives from Manchester) and like you, from before the internet. Must have got it from somewhere.......could it be baptisms, rather than weddings?

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                                  • #18
                                    Who has this copy of a mag called The Manchester Genealogist?

                                    The issue number is 1551 Vol.35 No.1 1999. and the first article detailed is called "Mass Marriages at Manchester"

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                                    • #19
                                      I might be going to the archives later this week
                                      PAT

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                                      • #20
                                        Oooh, now that sounds familiar, Merry, wonder if that was where I read it initially? Or, rather, where I read it and hardened it up as "truth"?

                                        OC

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