| Description | In the early days of the Society of Friends, Quakers followed a civil marriage ceremony similar to that in the 1644 'Directory of publique worship' introduced under the Commonwealth, but without the presence of a minister. From 1661 onwards, a Quaker marriage ceremony between two Friends was recognised in common law, but Friends were keen for their marriage ceremony to be recognised by parliament. A system of ceremony and registration was developed which was sufficiently complex that under the Hardwicke Marriage Act, 1753, Friends were exempted from the obligation to marry in an Anglican church. Further acts of parliament in 1836, 1860 and 1872 gave legal recognition to Quaker marriages, initially recognising Quaker marriages between two Friends, then recognising a Quaker marriage between a Friend and a non-member of the Society of Friends, and later recognising a marriage between anyone if approved by the Society.
For the preliminaries to a marriage, each Friend was required to declare his or her intention to marry at the Monthly Meeting of which he/she was a member on two occasions, with an additional 'meeting for clearness' in the interim to verify that there was no impediment to marriage (such as a lack of parental consent, a prior engagement, pregnancy out of wedlock, poor financial circumstances etc).
As much of the business of Monthly Meetings was taken up by the marriage procedure, many marriages can be found via the Monthly Meeting minute books (see SF/2/1/1/1). On approval for marriage by the Monthly Meeting, a certificate of 'clearness' would be issued and a date would be set for the ceremony to take place. At the ceremony, a marriage certificate would be signed by the parties and at least twelve witnesses. An appointed officer of the Monthly Meeting would transcribe the full details of the certificate into a register and it would be witnessed as a true copy, the original certificate being retained by the married couple. An abstract of the certificate was sent to the women's Quarterly Meeting to be registered there and when the meeting differed, also to the men's Quarterly Meeting. From 1776, the Quarterly Meeting was issued with printed forms of abstracts of the marriage certificates, as was the Monthly Meeting after 1794, at which point full copies of certificates were no longer kept.
A marriage by Superintendent Registrar's Certificate is the civil equivalent to a marriage by banns.
A notice of the marriage is displayed on the message board in the Registrar's office for a period of 21 days during which time anybody who objects to the marriage may do so. If no objections are received, a certificate of marriage is issued permitting the marriage to go ahead. If the couple come from two different districts, the notice of marriage is displayed in both districts but the couple are only required to produce one certificate of marriage to ensure that the marriage proceeds. In the Quaker marriage procedure, at this point, the Monthly Meeting would inform the Registrar that it had liberated the couple for marriage via a Notice of Liberation for Marriage. The marriage would then take place.
Certificates of 'clearness' for marriage were bound with certificates received and can be found at SF/2/1/1/29/8-11. |