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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Oxfordshire => Topic started by: Catling121 on Saturday 17 November 18 20:16 GMT (UK)

Title: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: Catling121 on Saturday 17 November 18 20:16 GMT (UK)
Hi all, I hope you're well.

I'm very unlikely to be able to get to Oxfordshire Record Office for some considerable time.

Could anyone who's going sometime do me a huge favour and try to find the marriage licence for a Matthew Townsend and Hannah Bourton, married at Bloxham the 29th November 1747.

If a copy has survived and it says "licence paid for by Robert Townsend of Hook Norton" it will go a long way towards knocking down an extremely long-standing brick wall.

Many thanks if anyone can do this for me!

Chris
Title: Re: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: ColC on Sunday 18 November 18 12:15 GMT (UK)
There is a parish marriage record on A.....y which simply reads

Matthew Townsend & Hannah Bourton
29 Nov 1747 Bloxham, Oxfordshire by Li


Colin
Title: Re: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: Catling121 on Sunday 18 November 18 12:16 GMT (UK)
Hi Colin,

Thanks for your message. Yes, I've found the marriage. What I need to do is try and find out who paid for the licence.  :)

Many thanks,

Chris
Title: Re: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: emeltom on Sunday 18 November 18 12:18 GMT (UK)
The  Oxfordshire Archdeacon's Marriage Bonds doesn't mention them so it is possible the Bond hasn't survived.

Emeltom
Title: Re: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: Catling121 on Sunday 18 November 18 12:19 GMT (UK)
This is what I'm afraid of :/
Title: Re: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: CarolA3 on Sunday 18 November 18 14:16 GMT (UK)
It's on this list of Diocesan bonds complied in 1976; scroll down to line T404:
https://www.whipple.org/oxford/diocesan_marriage_bonds.html#T

These records were stored at the Bodleian Library at that time.  I don't know whether they're available at the Oxfordshire History Centre (St Luke's, Cowley) which is the new version of the County Records Office, but they will be somewhere safe :)

Good luck :)

Carol
Title: Re: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: emeltom on Sunday 18 November 18 14:52 GMT (UK)
That's a much more complete list than the one I originally had downloaded. Thanks for the link.

Emeltom
Title: Re: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: emeltom on Sunday 18 November 18 15:02 GMT (UK)
Having just said that it is a more complete list, I see that it is missing one of my ancestors who appears on the list I originally downloaded. A case of win some, lose some.

Emeltom
Title: Re: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: CarolA3 on Sunday 18 November 18 15:31 GMT (UK)
There are two lists of licences/bonds issued by two different authorities - the Bishop of the Diocese of Oxford, and the Archdeacon of Oxford.

Here's a link to the website I use which explains the system: https://www.whipple.org/oxford/
(Also includes some hearth tax records for good measure!)

Carol
Title: Re: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: emeltom on Sunday 18 November 18 15:51 GMT (UK)
Thanks for that Carol. Wouldn't you think that as both are lists of marriage bonds they would both contain the same info. However two bonds which appear in the Archdeacons list don't appear in the Bishop's list.

Emeltom
Title: Re: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: CarolA3 on Sunday 18 November 18 16:25 GMT (UK)
No I wouldn't because these were two different authorities within the Church of England's ecclesiastical court system.  People could apply to one or the other, not both, so they would only appear on the one list.

That's why I always check both lists :)

Carol
Title: Re: Marriage Licence Lookup
Post by: emeltom on Sunday 18 November 18 16:43 GMT (UK)
Understood!

Emeltom