Peak Forest

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The Marriage Registers of Peak Forest Chapel, Derbyshire

Transcriptions from The Marriage Registers of Peak Forest Chapel,
edited by George W. Marshall, LL.D (1901)

Introduction

The Chapel at Peak Forest occupies a rather special place in Derbyshire's history, being a place where marriages could take place without being subjected to the usual conditions imposed by the Established Church.

The vicar held a seal of office for approving Wills and issuing Marriage Licences, the latter being bound by no conditions other than his own. As a result of this legal "loophole", couples came from all over the country to be married, meanwhile providing the Incumbent with what was presumably a "nice little earner"... On average since the beginning of the register of 'Foreign Marriages' in 1728, two couples a week were entered, the practice ending in 1804, the register closing with the following comment from the incumbent (my favourite quote!):-

'Here endeth the List of persons who came from different Parishes in England and were married at Peak-forest. This was a great privilege for the Minister, but being productive probably of bad Consequencies was put a stop to by an Act of Parliament.' [Hugh Wolstenholm, July 1804.]

Computer Generated Surname Index

The original transcript also included a name index - referenced by page number, but this has not been transcribed. Instead a new Surname Index has been generated which is referenced by year, and type of entry. Names of Witnesses to the marriages, and from the list of Wills proved have been included, as well as names of parties at each of the marriages.

Index entries indicate SURNAME, forename(s), the year of the event, and type, as in, for example, the following entries:-

FLETCHER	Ann,1750.
	Betty,1748.
	Catharine,1743(2).
	Catherine,1800.
	Edward,1753,1757S,1773,1797,1804.
	Edwd,1824E.

Note the following points in the above:-

1. The first indexed is Ann FLETCHER; "1750" indicates her marriage was in 1750.
2. There are two (2) entries for the marriage of Catharine FLETCHER, in 1743 [ in this case because the same marriage is recorded twice, rather than the fact that two Catharine FLETCHERs got married that year. ]
3. Edward FLETCHER is recorded as Signatory (Witness) of a marriage in 1757 [indicated as 1757S - 'W' is already in use to indicate the record of a Will for that person.]
4. Edwd. FLETCHER, 1824E, is recorded as an Executor (E) to a Will in 1824.

The overall index has been generated using using RIP (Rudy's Indexing Program) Version 1.06, supplied by Rudy Lacchin, and it has been split into 4 sections for ease of download:-

Surnames A-E

Surnames F-K

Surnames L-R

Surnames S-Z

Note that RIP may be used to produce a similar name index from any transcribed data. Sort it on surname and forename; using any convenient reference field - it doesn't have to be a date and could, for example be a page number - and leave the rest to RIP! (File name RIP106.ZIP).

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[Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie, April 1996.
Any references to, or quotations from, this material should also give credit to the original author(s)]

[This page was created originally by Phil Stringer, and last updated by him 10 July 1996]

© Copyright Rosemary Lockie, GENUKI and Contributors 1999-2006, &c.
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