From: chris@dickinson.uk.net   
      
   On Monday, 30 July 2018 15:25:10 UTC+1, 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.   
   > David   
      
   Now in Brighton & Hove, not in Lewes.   
      
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