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Did the Church really only use to allow marriages at certain times of year?

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  • #21
    In the British Almanac 1905 ( a reference book similar to Whitaker's) it says about marriages "In any case the ceremony must take place between the hours of 8 A.M. and 3 P.M." Its context does not make it absolutely clear whether this applies to all marriages or just those by licence or in a register office, but I think it does mean all marriages.

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    • #22
      And the same book says that bills were brought before the Commons in 1626, 1628 and 1629 "for free Liberty to marry at any Time of the Year". Also the Root and Branch petition to the Commons in 1640 which said that the people running the Church prohibited marriage "without their licence, at certain times, almost half the year".
      KiteRunner

      Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
      (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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      • #23
        I think its still true that you have to get married in daylight hours, isn't it?
        ~ with love from Little Nell~
        Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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        • #24
          It looks as though marriage law was a bit of a mess in the middle of the 17th century, so I've not yet found the bit that definitely says when they stopped this season stuff...
          KiteRunner

          Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
          (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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          • #25
            Wasn't Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Law 1753 supposed to sort out all sorts of undesirable practices, etc.?

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            • #26
              Yes, this "proscribed season" stuff must have finished by then, but I haven't managed to find out if it ended before then. And I haven't managed to find out what the proscribed seasons were yet!
              KiteRunner

              Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
              (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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              • #27
                Originally posted by Little Nell View Post
                I think its still true that you have to get married in daylight hours, isn't it?
                Yes, so you could see who they were! lol

                My grandparents marriage licence (1917) says between 8am and 3pm.

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                • #28
                  I understood it to be between 'dawn' and 'dusk'.

                  Of course, if it got to dusky, Dawn wouldn't see who she was marrying - pretty dark in them churches.

                  I had a friend who married at 4.00pm at a hotel a couple of years ago - that was the latest that she was allowed. She didn't want the expense of a day & evening reception.
                  Helen

                  http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/...enSmithToo-296

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                  • #29
                    Kite

                    Aha! So if you could afford a licence, you could get married at any time of the year, and if you couldn't then you had to wait.

                    I had a quick look through several pre-1750 marriage registers and I can find a marriage for every month of the year, right from 1554.

                    Not conclusive, I agree, as they may all have got married by licence - it doesn't say.

                    OC

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                    • #30
                      Originally posted by Merry Monty Montgomery View Post
                      Yes, so you could see who they were! lol

                      My grandparents marriage licence (1917) says between 8am and 3pm.
                      That's the same as the British Almanac said in 1905. Perhaps is was just for non-banns weddings after all?

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