Changes in English marriage regustration

[Steve Hayes]

From a circular sent out by the Faculty Office of the Church of
England

You may already be aware that the way in which marriages are
registered is set to change following the passing into law of the
Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration etc) Act 2019
which, as well as providing for opposite-sex couples to be able to
enter into civil partnerships, will allow for mother’s names to be
included in Marriage Registers as well as/in place of father’s names.
It also makes provision for significant changes in the way that
marriages are registered.

Representatives of the Faculty Office and the Legal Offices of the
Church of England and Church in Wales have been in discussion with the
General Register Office (GRO) about the proposed changes which they
under pressure from Government Ministers to bring into effect as soon
as possible – and despite our collective representations, the GRO are
proposing to bring the changes in on 2 December 2019. A number of
issues remain to be resolved including the provision of a workable
secure system to produce the new documentation and time to train the
20,000+ clergy who are able to conduct weddings in both Churches.

In essence the proposals will replace Marriage Registers and Marriage
Certificates (issued at the time of the wedding) with a Marriage
Document which will be prepared by the officiating priest before the
wedding. At the ceremony, the Marriage Document will be signed by the
couple, their witnesses and the officiating priest (in much the same
way as the Registers are currently). The significant difference is
that the couple will then need to ensure that the Marriage Document is
deposited at the local Register Office within 7 days of the date of
the wedding and the local Superintendent Registrar will then record
the details and issue the couple with a Marriage Certificate (for
which there will be a fee). The couple can ask someone to lodge the
Marriage Document on their behalf (as in many cases they will, of
course, be on honeymoon!) but it is their responsibility NOT the
officiating minister’s responsibility, to ensure that it is done.

As an interim measure, the Marriage Document will be available in a
number of formats, including a manual format and a ‘type and print’
facility. The Regulations envisage that eventually there will be a
secure online portal to which clergy will require access as there is
provision for couples to be reminded by email from the General
Register Office if they have not lodged the Document within the
required period.

For marriages that currently take place by Superintendent Registrar’s
Certificates, the SRC will be replaced by a “Marriage Schedule” which
will be produced by the Register Office taking Notice of the Marriage
and that Schedule will then be signed by all the parties including the
officiating priest once the marriage has taken place and, again, will
have to be lodged with the Register Office within 7 days.

Immediately following implementation, the existing marriage register
books held in churches will need to be closed. The incumbent, or in a
vacancy the Area/Rural Dean, will be responsible for closing the
registers by striking through any unused entry spaces. One copy of the
register will then need to be returned to the local Superintendent
Registrar together with any unused marriage certificate stock. The
other copy of the register is to be retained in the church until such
time as it is to be deposited in the Diocesan Record Office.

[Ian Goddard]

If only the mother's names had been included from the start!

As to the two stage process - what could possibly go wrong?

Ian

[Graeme Wall]

Post by Ian Goddard
If only the mother's names had been included from the start!
As to the two stage process - what could possibly go wrong?
Ian

Typical British bureaucracy, take a system that works and make it more
complicated and disfunctional. I'm surprised they don't insist it is
all done on-line.

[Richard Smith]

Post by Ian Goddard
If only the mother's names had been included from the start!

Oh, for the French system! A Napoleonic-era civil marriage record gives
the full name, age, place of birth, date of birth, occupation and abode
for the bride and group. All four parents are named, including the
mother's maiden name, since, until recently, French women did not change
their surname on marriage. The fathers' occupations (or former
occupations) are given, as are the parent's abodes if they are living,
or the fact that they are deceased is noted. If the mother has
remarried, this will sometimes be stated and the step-father named,
though this detail seems to have been optional. Although there was less
standardisation under the Ancien Régime, by the middle of the 18th
century, most of this detail was being given in parish registers too.

Richard