On Mon, 30 Jul 2018 15:25:08 +0100, David Marshall   
    wrote:   
      
   >On 30/07/2018 11:28, Chris Pitt Lewis wrote:   
   >> On 30/07/2018 10:41, David Marshall wrote:   
   >>> On 29/07/2018 15:37, Doug Laidlaw wrote:   
   >>>> On 27/07/18 00:12, David Marshall wrote:   
   >>>>> Out of 275 GRO format marriage certificates I have obtained, dating   
   >>>>> from 1838 to 1963, there is just one which only has a single witness   
   >>>>> recorded (in 1882).   
   >>>>> Was this legal? Does anyone else have an example?   
   >>>>> David   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I am pretty sure that only one witness to a wedding is not legal.  A   
   >>>> soldier on active service can make a will without the required   
   >>>> formalities, but I have never heard of the same rule applying to   
   >>>> marriages.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Did the other witness sign with a mark (a cross)?   
   >>> No, it was just left blank.   
   >>> It was a wedding in a parish church after banns and everything else is   
   >>> just as would be expected.   
   >>> David   
   >>>   
   >> According to the excellent book by Rebecca Probert, Marriage Law for   
   >> Genealogists (2012), failure to comply with the requirement for the   
   >> marriage registration to be attested by two witnesses was not one of the   
   >> matters stated (in the Marriage Acts 1753 and 1836) to make the marriage   
   >> void. Therefore the marriage was valid (see pages 82, 88 and 92 of that   
   >> book).   
   >>   
   >> However, if what you have is a certificate provided by the GRO, remember   
   >> that this is a copy of the copy sent by the Vicar to the Superintendant   
   >> Registrar. Mistakes can happen. It would be worth checking the parish   
   >> register to see whether a second witness appears there.   
   >>   
   >Thank you for that. The marriage was in Ewhurst and so the records ought   
   >to be in the East Sussex Record Office near Brighton. I have not been   
   >able to confirm this from a quick look at their website but if I have   
   >the opportunity to be in the neighbourhood I will check more thoroughly.   
      
   Have you tried searching on freereg. The records are transcribed from   
   the parish register and witnesses are ( should be ) also transcribed.   
      
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