London irregular marriage and baptism registers on Ancestry

Ancestry has launched a new collection entitled London, England, Clandestine Marriage and Baptism Registers, 1667-1754. The database includes irregular or clandestine marriages carried out at the Fleet Prison, King's Bench Prison, the Mint and the May Fair Chapel, as held at the National Archives in its RG7 collection - it is accessible at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=5344.

These were marriages carried out prior to the imposition of Hardwicke's Marriage Act 1753, which required all marriages to be carried out at an Anglican Church after the regular calling of banns (with exceptions granted only for Quakers and Jews). Some baptisms are also included.

Although irregular marriage was abolished by this act in England and Wales, it continued in Scotland until 1939 (with one form valid until 2006). (There will be a fair bit more on that in my new book, coming soon, called Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records!)

This same RG7 collection is also available at BMD Registers (www.bmdregisters.co.uk) and The Genealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk).

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!