Where to find Marriage Licence/Allegation

[smudwhisk]

Allegations for marriage licences issued by the Bishop of London are no longer at Guildhall Library, but now at LMA.

Hhm, interesting when I was looking a few month's back they were still showing on the Corporation of London website as at the Guildhall.  Its swings and roundabouts for me to be honest, although the Guildhall is probably closer to a tube station and I have issues walking any distance.  I think the Society of Genealogists have some transcripts so I may have a look there when I finally get down to London to see the two I wish to find. 

The two I am after are both pre1837.  On one I'm hoping to find where the marriage was actually due to take place because its most likely in Essex and I don't know where and the other I'm after the bondsman to see if it helps identify the bride since the marriage entry itself doesn't help as its pre1754 so no witnesses.  They can be useful.

Now that might be just what I'm looking for as I can't seem to find what I'm looking for elsewhere.
Have you emailed or asked at the Guildhall Library for help?

I haven't Lady Di but that's because I know the Guildhall will now charge the same inflated prices as the LMA to obtain copies.  When I obtained a copy of a coroner's inquest about 10 or so years ago from the Guildhall Records Office, they were very reasonably priced.  Unfortunately since the tie up with the LMA (the Guildhall RO I gather no longer exists as its been amalgamated with the LMA) the prices have unfortunately gone through the roof.  The price it would probably cost me is probably higher than a trip to London for the day even though I'm over 100 miles away.

[Lady Di]

Allegations for marriage licences issued by the Bishop of London are no longer at Guildhall Library, but now at LMA.

What are you hoping to find out from the 1839 document? Allegations for marriages after 1837 rarely give more information than the marriage record itself.

Thanks for that information Bookbox. I was rather hoping that the 1839 Allegation/Bond might confirm parental details or at least provide a witness/bondsmans name. I realise I'm expecting a lot but if I don't try I wont know 
The 1821 marriage is for the same gent so would like to see if there's some sort of commonality between the two records.

Here's hoping that LMA might answer a plea for help 

Thanks for the help everyone

[smudwhisk]

Its worth a try, but I wouldn't hold your hopes up at getting a free lookup from the LMA, especially as you don't know for definite they were issued by the Bishop of London.

See http://www.rootschat.com/links/01efu/ for details of the many courts that issued marriage licences for the wider London area.

Also, see http://www.rootschat.com/links/01efv/ for details of the minimum £50 per hour that the LMA charge for a research service.  You may get lucky and they may check the index for you for free, but I doubt very much you will get the marriage licence details checked for free.  As I note you live in Australia, if you have an LDS Family History Centre within reach, it would probably be cheaper to check if they have the licences for the period covered if you can confirm which court issued it as they do have microfilm copies of a number of these including for the Bishop of London.  Some marriage entries say married by licence, but this can sometimes be written in error and no marriage licence can be found.  I have one like this in Berkshire.

Thanks to Bookbox for the heads up on the fact the Bishop of London licences are now a the LMA, may have saved me a wasted journey.   It would seem the page I came across a few months back that said they were at the Guildhall Library must have been out of date by a few years and google search didn't bring up the pdf from the LMA at the time.

[Bookbox]

I was rather hoping that the 1839 Allegation/Bond might confirm parental details or at least provide a witness/bondsmans name.

Just to say that bonds were not required after 1823, so there will be no bondsman for a marriage in 1839. The allegation is unlikely to add anything to the marriage record itself, unless it was in some way deficient.

[Lady Di]

Thanks smudwhisk and Bookbox

At least I now know that it's most likely a waste of time looking for the 1839 licence details.

I'll follow up on the 1821 marriage and hope I can find the relevant licence details for that one. As both parties were from different counties (Kent & Herts) it could be double the searches. Think I'll stay away from LMA for a while though as those sort of search fees/prices are outside my budget these days 

Fingers crossed and thanks for your help

[Bookbox]

I'll follow up on the 1821 marriage and hope I can find the relevant licence details for that one. As both parties were from different counties (Kent & Herts) it could be double the searches.

No, it’s not like banns. The licence would be issued by the diocese in which the marriage was expected to take place. 

[Guy Etchells]

Church marriage licences would be issued by a Bishop or if the couple to marry were from different Dioceses the Archbishop, etc..
There are examples of Archbishop’s, Bishop’s and Superintendent Registrar’s  marriage licences at
http://anguline.co.uk/cert/mar_lic.html

Cheers
Guy

[Lady Di]

The licence would be issued by the diocese in which the marriage was expected to take place. 

Excellent news - that means I only need to look in Kent records

and from Guy's note ... (which I can't "insert quote" for some reason  )

"Church marriage licences would be issued by a Bishop or if the couple to marry were from different Dioceses the Archbishop , etc.."

Therefore I'm now down to looking in Kent at marriage Licences issued by the Archbishop.

That surely makes it a whole lot easier 

Many thanks & a Happy New Year from Oz