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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: kath davis on Monday 01 July 24 15:11 BST (UK)
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Eden Bairstow married Timothy Ambler at St Johns the Baptist Church, Halifax in 1742. It was 19th April and 8 couples were married on the same day. There had been only 4 marriages in the first 18 days of the month. It was a Thursday - I wonder what was so special about this day? Easter day was on the 25 March according to dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com, so not that.
Any thoughts - not important, just curious
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Were any of the grooms military men? I've seen some parish marriage registers with quite a few soldiers marrying on the same day.
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I don't think it had anything to do with the military. Two = Weaver, two = Labourer and Four = Comber.
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Is it possibly a Trade thing - the one day in the year that they got off work?
Regards
Chas
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Thank you all. Ashtone, good thinking, BumbleB beat me to it, and saved me checking - all likely to be in the textile trade. Chas another good thought, but they, especially the weavers, were likely to be self-employed so days off would be rare. I shall be looking at marriage registers a bit more closely in future, this can hardly be a one-off.
Kath
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Probably nothing to do with your question but in 1742 Britain was still using the Julian calendar and the year officially started on 25th March, a practice which ended in 1751, and the following year the country adopted the Gregorian calendar.
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According to this site, the 19th April 1742 was a Monday.
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1742&country
And according to this site, Easter Sunday was 18th April in 1742.
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/easter.
So they would have got married on Easter Monday - I would surmise one of the few holidays they had, and a popular time to get married.
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Brill. it would have been Easter Monday - Fair day. Dancing booths, Amusements, a ready made celebration for all. That makes sense.
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Many thanks to you all. Easter Monday was the day I expected it to be but couldn't find any proof - just didn't look at enough websites.
Kath
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You can always figure out when Easter is from almanacs. It's the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. ;D
Martin
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Martin thank you - in the end I turned to a hard copy of Whittaker's Almanac to get the date provided by Goodies61.
Kath
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I've been boring my family for years with that little nugget.
Martin
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I remember my mother chanting - "the first Sunday after the first full moon after 21st March", which is the same thing said slightly differently!
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My parents were married in that church!
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And 19th April is my daughter's birthday. :D