Unconfigured Ad Widget

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Xmas marriages and christenings

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #41
    Originally posted by Olde Crone Holden View Post
    Richard

    No, the holiday theory still stands I think, because although it wasn't a public holiday for everyone, it would have been a holiday for rural/ag labs etc.

    OC
    But according to the stats from the Ancestry data, Xmas marriages were far more common in London (14 times more than an average day) compared with the country as a whole (where they were only 5 times more than the average). This doesn't support it being a rural/ag-lab phenomenon - quite the opposite in fact.
    Last edited by Richard in Perth; 26-09-14, 01:49.

    Comment


    • #42
      Thanks to everyone who has sent me details.
      Anne's certificate had me checking Google for civil marriages on Christmas Day and I found a few councils will book them these days.
      I also found this


      It seems one of their reasons was it was the only time they could get their families together at the one time. ;)
      Cheers
      Guy
      Guy passed away October 2022

      Comment


      • #43
        The Lost Cousins website carries the following exert from the pdf file Miscellaneous Notes about Marriage Regulations

        “Penny Weddings.” In C19 and early C20 many workers only had Christmas and Easter Day holidays, and had little money to pay church fees, so multiple weddings were not uncommon. A batch of couples would have a joint wedding ceremony, saying everything together except the actual vows “I John take you Mary…” etc. Each couple contributed one penny to make up the fee. The record is said to be that of a curate of a church in Worcester who married 26 couples on Christmas Day one year.”

        The above is interesting to me in two ways one the use of the term Penny Weddings, coming from Scotland I associate that term to the weddings where the guests contribute to the reception rather than the couples contributing to the marriage fee.
        The Scottish churches frowned on Penny Weddings where the reception often held in a pub where “one, two, and even three hundred would convene on these occasions to make merry at their own expense for two or more days”.

        Cheers
        Guy
        Guy passed away October 2022

        Comment


        • #44
          Richard

          You are right of course - but London is and was always an exception to every rule. Perhaps in the case of London weddings it was because the church fee was waived on that day and the Register Office was "open for business" because not everyone is a) religious b) a member of the established church.

          It would be interesting to see what occupations people had..........

          OC

          Comment

          Working...
          X