Marriage LICENCES

[Amberella]

One of my ancestors married via licence which he got through the Vicar General of Canterbury on June 4, 1819.  He married the next day.

Does a licence usually note the spouses' ages & parents?  For the wife there is absolutely NO information about her other than her name so I have no idea when or where she was born or who her parents were.  All I know is that the parish register (St. Botolph without Aldersgate, London) indicates that she was "of this parish" which says very little.  She MAY have been born in the parish or, like her husband-to-be, she may have come to London from afar (in his case, Reading, Berkshire).

Does anyone know if the licences were kept or if the Vicar General of Canterbury had some sort of ledger where they noted the nitty-gritty details then issued a less complete licence?

PS - their first child arrived over a year later so I don't think she was pregnant at the time.

Thanks.

[pinefamily]

The license will have little more than the register, although it may state parish of origin (where they were living at time of marriage). If the bride to be was underage there could be a declaration of consent by parent or guardian.
And you will get signatures if they signed.

[Amberella]

Thank you!  Sort of what I expected.  Really difficult when I have NO idea of her birth date & only a "guesstimate" when she died.

[pinefamily]

Still worth looking at if you can access them. Occasionally you get an extra bit of information.

[BumbleB]

Always good to obtain a copy of the Bond and Allegation (Licence was passed to the church) for the licence.  They will usually give a little more information, ages might not be definite, i.e. aged 21 and upwards, but you will usually find an occupation for the groom.  The names of the Bondsmen may also give you further insight.

[stanmapstone]

For a Church wedding the actual licence was issued to the bridegroom who presented it to the priest conducting the marriage. The licence could then have been kept by the priest, or returned to the diocesan registries, or given to the couple on their wedding day and kept within the family, but usually does not survive.

Stan

[Amberella]

Always good to obtain a copy of the Bond and Allegation (Licence was passed to the church) for the licence.  They will usually give a little more information, ages might not be definite, i.e. aged 21 and upwards, but you will usually find an occupation for the groom.  The names of the Bondsmen may also give you further insight.

I found the online information about the licence from the website of the Vicar General (Canterbury) & unfortunately it wasn't helpful.  I know how old the groom was but it's the bride I'm trying to pin down.  I know too the the groom was a veterinary chemist later in life but haven't been able to find where he studied OR if he apprenticed with someone.  At some point it'll sort itself out!

[Amberella]

The license will have little more than the register, although it may state parish of origin (where they were living at time of marriage). If the bride to be was underage there could be a declaration of consent by parent or guardian.
And you will get signatures if they signed.

The entry in the parish register has "consent given" (or whatever the term was) crossed out so I just assumed that the bride was of age.  Sometimes there are great leaps of faith taken when doing genealogy!

[Guy Etchells]

Some examples of marriage licences are on this site

http://anguline.co.uk/cert/mar_lic.html

Examples of various other certificates etc may be found here

http://anguline.co.uk/cert/certificates.htm


Cheers
Guy