RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: paulalou on Wednesday 17 November 04 15:37 GMT (UK)
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My great-great grandparents were married at Fulham Registry Office in 1884. Does anyone know when weddings in registry offices became legal and/or a comman way of getting married?
Paula
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Hi Paula,
Marriages in a Register Office were introduced at the same time as civil registration i.e. 1 Jul 1837. It grew slowly in popularity but greater numbers used this option from 1837 in the far north of England, the south-west and Wales.
Hope that helps.
Nell
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Thanks for that. DO you know if the records (in general) still exist? And where they would be held? I can't track down the records for Fulham Registry Office.
Paula
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I would expect them to be with any others for the Fulham registration district. Fulham was a sub-district of Kensington at one point, when are we talking about? Copied this from the Genuki page:
Fulham
Created 1st April 1875 (out of Kensington district). In Middlesex until 1889.
Sub-districts : Fulham; Fulham North East; Fulham North West; Fulham South; Hammersmith; Hammersmith St. Peter; Hammersmith St. Paul; Hammersmith North; Hammersmith South.
GRO volumes : 1a (1875-1930).
Fulham, Hammersmith (1875-1913).
Registers now in Hammersmith & Fulham district.
The records are also included in the main GRO indexes.
Nell
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I mean they aren't at the Fulham & Hammersmith Records Office or the London Met Archives...well not that i can find.
Paula
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I should have said, i want to look at the original records.
Paula
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My G-Grandparents were married 'by certificate' in a registry office in 1890. I found them on the BMD, and ordered the certificate. It arrived in western Canada less than a week after I ordered it!
Anna
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Paula - you would not be allowed to examine the original registers. Any information they contain relative to a marriage is on the marriage certificate.
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The reason i asked was because i have previously found ancestors siblings (previously unknown to me) marrying on the same day as my direct ancestors by finding marriage certificates next to each other among the parish records. I now always try to check this in the records so was hoping to be able to see the registry office record book.
Paula
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Paula - it was not uncommon for two or more church weddings in the same family to be celebrated on the same day. Often this was because the eldest daughter was getting married [at last] so clearing the way for her sister to marry [a traditional convention]. I think it was much less common for this to happen in registry offices as the celebrants were less likely to adhere to traditional values.
In any case, where searches are done on 1837online you are likely to see these very clearly as the record usually [not always] shows others on that page.
Also the couples often took turns to be witnesses to the signing of the register. Those are also shown on certificates.