Marriages & Banns

[Pandabean]

I am going through some of my marriage certificates and I have noticed in one of them the entry above is slightly different from the entry below in terms of what is written in the left hand column.

My one at the top says the following:
"After banns according to the church of....."

But the one below it says:
"After banns and publications according to the church of...."

Why is there a difference? Is it that one has been published in a local newspaper or some other local notice?


Also another question relates to the witnesses. If a witness is the grooms sister would she have signed as her maiden name or would it have to be her married name?

[emanday]

I am going through some of my marriage certificates and I have noticed in one of them the entry above is slightly different from the entry below in terms of what is written in the left hand column.

My one at the top says the following:
"After banns according to the church of....."

But the one below it says:
"After banns and publications according to the church of...."

Why is there a difference? Is it that one has been published in a local newspaper or some other local notice?

Must say I have noticed this as well, but never gave any thought to it. Maybe someone else knows why there is a difference.

Also another question relates to the witnesses. If a witness is the grooms sister would she have signed as her maiden name or would it have to be her married name?

All of my MC's where a witness was the bride's married sister were signed with her married name. I've discovered a whole wheen of other rellies because of that

[LesleyB]

Hi

But the one below it says:
"After banns and publications according to the church of...."

Just my thoughts, but I took it that banns were read in church, but publication maybe meant a notice being put up outside the church, perhaps, as is still done in Scotland at the Registrars - "notice of forthcoming marriages" - just incase anyone has any objectons. Perhaps that is what was meant?

Also another question relates to the witnesses. If a witness is the grooms sister would she have signed as her maiden name or would it have to be her married name?

I'd agree with Mary there - I would have thought that once she was married she would use her married name.

Best wishes
Lesley

[Russell]

Hi Andy
Like Lesley I think that 'publication' came later once they could post a notice outside or somewhere visible for all to read. Before that it would have been a lot more work to write out a complete document for each couple and many people would not have been able to read it anyway.

I would agree with Mary and Lesley that the married witness would most probably use her married name BUT in some parts of the country women held onto their maiden name and used it on census entries and other documents.
Adopting your husbands name was a convention not a requirement in Scotland.

Russell

[Anne H]

Hi Andy,

I've also noticed the different wording and just assumed that "After Banns according to the church" meant that they were only called in church and "After Banns and Publication..." was when they were called in church and also posted outside the Registrar's Office. That assumptin came from my memory of seeing my sister's banns posted outside the Registrar's Office in Coatbridge and also hearing them called in church three times...of course that was the 1960's.

Any MC's I have has the married name of the witness rather than her maiden name

Regards,
Anne H

[AndrewP]

I've also noticed the different wording and just assumed that "After Banns according to the church" meant that they were only called in church and "After Banns and Publication..." was when they were called in church and also posted outside the Registrar's Office. That assumptin came from my memory of seeing my sister's banns posted outside the Registrar's Office in Coatbridge and also hearing them called in church three times...of course that was the 1960's.

Registrar's offices would only have come about in 1855 with statutory registration, so if the banns were published, where that would mean they were published? The church notice board? The local newspaper?

All the best,

AndrewP

[DavidWW]

Up to 1878 there had to be proclamation of banns in a church. In 1878 a new Act allowed for the alternative of a notice outside the registrar's office, - hence "publication". (The Marriage Notice [Scotland] Act 1878)

Some couples did both.

Sooo.... if I'm right one of these marriages will be before 1878, the other in or later than 1878.

David