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IBM I A 
 
 Vi-l 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FLEET MARRIAGES, 
 
 WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF 
 
 THE PARSONS, AND THEIR REGISTERS : 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED NOTICES OF THE 
 
 MAY FAIR, MINT, AND SAVOY CHAPELS, 
 
 AND 
 NUMEROUS EXTRACTS FROM THE REGISTERS: 
 
 BY JOHN SOUTHERDEN BURN, 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF PARISH REGISTERS, 
 THE FOREIGN PROTESTANT REFUGEES IN ENGLAND, ETC. 
 
 Cl^itti iStiition* 
 
 LONDON : 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS. 
 
 MDCCCXLVI. 
 

 FLEET MARRIAGES 
 
 " Where lead my wand'ring footsteps now ? the Fleet 
 Presents her tatter'd sons in luxury's cause : 
 Here venerable Crape, and scarlet cheeks. 
 With nose of purple hue — 
 
 Here Cleric grave from Oxford, ready stands 
 Obsequious to conclude the Gordian knot, 
 Entwin'd beyond all dissolution sure ; 
 A Reg'lar this, from Cambridge ; both alike 
 In artful stratagem to tj'e the noose." 
 
 The Morning Walk, 1751. 
 
 881 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In collecting materials for his " History of Parish 
 Registers," published in 1829, the Authors attention 
 was first drawn to the registers of marriages solem- 
 nized in the Fleet and its vicinity, and of which he 
 afterwards made a very minute examination. 
 
 Until the publication of the first edition of this 
 work, few persons were aware of the existence of 
 those registers, or appreciated their value and impor- 
 tance. The Author's object was to present some of 
 the most curious particulars concerning the registers 
 and those parties connected with them. Without 
 discussing their validity as a public record, and with- 
 out attempting to place them upon the same footing 
 in respect to evidence as a Parish Register, it must be 
 allowed that they have been occasionally admitted 
 as evidence in the Courts of Nisi Prius ; and although 
 within the last forty years they have been genei ally 
 rejected, yet they unquestionably contain the record 
 of many thousands of marriages, of which no other 
 evidence is to be found. 
 
 These Registers have recently been removed from 
 the Bishop of London's Registry, and are now depo- 
 sited with the Registrar General under the provisions 
 of an Act of the 3rd and 4th Vict. (Cap. 92) which 
 however gives them no additional authenticity. 
 
VI. 
 
 The rapid sale of the first edition, and the favour- 
 able notice of various reviews and literary journals, 
 has induced a belief that the subject matter is inter- 
 esting, and the author therefore ventures to submit 
 the work again to the public. It is no part of his 
 plan to enter into a discussion of the law of marriage, 
 and the necessity of compressing his matter within a 
 small volume precludes him from giving some ac- 
 comit of the different episcopal and dissenting chapels 
 where marriages were solemnized, and which were in 
 existence prior to the passing of the Marriage Act 
 in 1753. He has voluminous transcripts from the 
 registers of such chapels, and notes from licences 
 to marry, supplied by information obtained from an 
 examination of the affidavits made upon application 
 of the parties (which are preserved in the Registry 
 of the Bishop of London), and from notifications of 
 marriages in the public journals of the period, from 
 which he will be at all times happy to afford infor- 
 mation. A list of the principal of such chapels is 
 inserted in this edition, and from the circumstance 
 that, out of the eighty or ninety chapels in and about 
 London, only fourteen of the registers remain (some 
 of which are in private hands), these collections are 
 of considerable value. 
 
 Copthall Court, London, December, 1845. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Of Clandestine Marriage. — St. James's Duke's Place, and Trinity 
 Minories. — The Fleet Prison. — Bishop's Visitation there. — Marriage 
 of the Honourable Henry Fox. — The Marriage Act of 1753. — Oppo- 
 sition to it. — Blackstone's Commentary upon it. . . 1 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 The Fleet Prison, Wardens, and Chaplains . . . . 32 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Clergymen who performed Marriages at the Fleet . . 49 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Fleet Books. — Their transmission to the custody of the Bishop 
 of London. — Extracts, &c., &c. . . . . . . . . 66 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Fleet Registers not Evidence . . . . . . 127 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Marriages at the King's Bench Prison, — Mint, — Savoy, — and 
 May Fair 137 
 
 A List of the Chapels in and about London at which Marriages 
 were perfonned, prior to the Marriage Act .. .. .. 151 
 
FLEET MARRIAGES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OF CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE — ST. JAMES DUKE's PLACE AND 
 TRINITY MINORIES THE FLEET PRISON BISHOP's VISITA- 
 TION THERE MARRIAGE OF THE HONOURABLE HENRY FOX 
 
 THE MARRIAGE ACT OF 1753 OPPOSITION TO IT — BLACK- 
 
 STONe's COMMENTARY UPON IT. 
 
 It was not until the Council of Trent,^ that the inter- 
 vention of a priest, or other ecclesiastical functionary, was 
 deemed in Europe indispensable to a marriage. It was then 
 ascertained that the existence of the marriage contract as a 
 mere civil engagement, unhallowed by any spiritual sanction, 
 tended much to the formation of clandestine connexions, and 
 their concomitant evils. The celebrated Decree passed in 
 that Council interdicted any marriage otherwise than in the 
 presence of a priest and at least two witnesses. But in Eng- 
 land previous to 1754 the Common Law continued to regu- 
 late the Law of Marriage, the authority of the Council of 
 Trent not having been acknowledged in this country ; and 
 whilst, in virtue of domestic institutions, a form was enjoined 
 for the more solemn celebration of matrimony, and persons 
 departing from these regulations were liable to ecclesiastical 
 censure, still other and more private modes of contracting a 
 marriage were tolerated and acknowledged by Law. 
 
 Hence a contract per verba de prasenti, that is to say, 
 between persons entering into a present engagement to be- 
 come man and wife, or a promise per verba de futurOy which 
 was an agreeinent to become husband and wife at some future 
 
 ' Sessio 24, 11th November 1563. — Doctrina de Saciamento Matrimonii. 
 The last General Council of Trent held its first session in December 1545, and 
 its last in December 1563. 
 
time, if the promise were followed by consummation, consti- 
 tuted marriage without the intervention of a priest; for the 
 contract per verba de prcesenti was held to be a marriage com- 
 plete in substance, but deficient in ceremony.^ Although the 
 promise per verba de futiiro of itself was incomplete in both 
 points, yet the cohabitation of the parties after exchanging 
 the mutual promise, implied such a present consent at the 
 time of the sexual intercourse, as to perfect the marriage in 
 substance and give it equal validity with the contract de prc£- 
 seiiti, that is to say, the validity of an irregular marriage, 
 which could not be annulled by the Ecclesiastical Court, 
 though it might be censured for its informality, nor could 
 the vinculum be affected by a subsequent regular marriage. 
 
 Certain privileges have been allowed to those who solem- 
 nized their marriage according to the form prescribed by the 
 Ecclesiastical Law, which were denied to those who refused 
 to comply ; yet the marriage, although celebrated in a dif- 
 ferent manner, was indissoluble, it being considered of Divine 
 institution, to which only a full and free consent of the par- 
 ties was necessary. Before the time of Pope Innocent the 
 Third (1198), there was no solemnization of marriage in the 
 
 ' " By the Civil Law whatsoever was given ca" sponsalilia largitate, betwixt them 
 that are promised, have a condition (for the most part silent) that it may be had 
 again if marriage ensue not. Si spo77sus dederit aliquid et aliquo casu iivpedianiur 
 miptia, donatio penilus rescinditnr nisi oscuhim intervenit ; but if he had a kiss 
 for his money, he loseth one half of that which he gave. But with the woman it is 
 otherwise ; for, kissing or not kissing, whatsoever she gave she may ask and have 
 it againe. This is but for gloves, rings, bracelets, and other small wares, and in 
 rehaving a woman hath greter favour in greater guifts than a man hath."' Spon. 
 Crud. 9, fo. 13. 
 
 The Author has many curious particulars relative to Espousals, which was the 
 contract per verba de fuluro ; the only entry, however, which he has observed 
 relating to Espousals, in a parish register, is the following in that of Boughton 
 Monchelsea, in Kent. 
 
 " INIichaelis. 
 
 " 1630 Sponsalia inter Gulielm' Maddox et Elizabetii' Grimestone inde bitrliuris 
 formi transacta 10 die Januarii." 
 
 This marriage was solemnized with the forms of the Cliurch three years after- 
 wards, as appears by tlie following entry in tlie same Register. 
 
 " Michaelis. 
 
 " 1633 Nuptim inter (iulielmu' ]\Iaddox et Elizabetha' Grimcstonvltimo Octobris." 
 
churcli, but the man came to the house wliere the woman 
 resided, and led her home to his own house, which was all the 
 ceremony then used : hence the expression " uxorem ducere 
 et capere in virum.''''^ 
 
 Banns were first directed to be published by Canon 
 Hubert Walter, No. 22 (1200); and the Constitution of 
 ^yilliam la Zouch, No. 7 (1347) notices the performance of 
 clandestine marriages, and that " some contriving unlawful 
 " marriages, and affecting the dark, lest their deeds should 
 " be reproved, procure every day, in a damnable manner, 
 " marriages to be celebrated without publication of banns 
 " duly and lawfully made, by means of chaplains that have no 
 " regard to the fear of God and the prohibition of the laws." 
 
 These informal marriages appear to have been continued 
 in London notwithstanding the punishment denounced (and 
 sometimes inflicted) by the Ecclesiastical Law. Within a 
 few years previously to 1686, many thousands of clandes- 
 tine marriages were performed ; many of them in certain 
 churches and chapels exempted from the visitation of the 
 Ordinary, the ministers of which churches did usually marry 
 without licence or banns : these were called " Imvless 
 churches r for by such practices those laws which had been 
 made to prevent clandestine marriages were rendered in- 
 effectual. - 
 
 From the Bishop of London's Registry (1 Compton 95) it 
 appears that the Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, on 
 the 17th of Feb. 1686, suspended for three years (ab officio et 
 heneficio) Adam Elliott, Rector of St. James Duke's Place, 
 for having married or suffered persons to be married at his 
 church without banns or licence. 
 
 This suspension is mentioned by Newcourt in his Reper- 
 torium, where are noticed the grounds of the " pretended 
 exemptions" of the church of St. James Duke's Place and 
 Trinity Minories. As to the former, the Mayor and Com- 
 monalty and Citizens of London, as lords of the manor and 
 patrons of the church, had then lately (1708) pretended an 
 exemption from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London in 
 
 ' Petersdorff's Lectures. ' Nelson's Rights of the Clergy. 
 
matters ecclesiastical. And as to Trinity Minories, " the 
 cliurcli is in the gift of the Crown, and the Incumhent or 
 Curate thereof (for it is neither rectory nor vicarage insti- 
 tutive) holds the same by an instrument of donation, under 
 the Great Seal of England ; but of late these Curates have 
 pretended exemption from being subject to the Bishop of 
 London as Ordinary, on purpose to defend t/ieir marrying 
 without hanns or licence.'''' 
 
 The suspension of the Rector of St. James Duke's Place 
 was relaxed on the 28th of May 1687, upon his petition to 
 the Commissioners ; and in the marriage register of Duke's 
 Place is the following entry in the year 1687 — 
 
 " There were no marriages from the tenth of March till y* 
 29 day of May." 
 
 after which, it appears, the Rector resumed his practice, and 
 married at the rate of sixteen couple per day. 
 
 The earliest marriage register in tlie parish chest com- 
 mences 1st Nov. 1664, but some of the first leaves in the 
 book are missing, it having been for some years without any 
 cover to protect it! It continues to 1691, occupying upwards 
 of 1000 pages. On some days there are between 30 and 40 
 marriages, and in this book alone are nearly 40,000 entries! !^ 
 The 7iext book (also a large folio, but thinner than the first) 
 commences in 1692 and ends July 28, 1700; and the mar- 
 riages during this period continue very numerous. The 
 third book commences with 25 March 1700, and ends March 
 1754, during which period the number of marriages decreased. 
 
 The first register of marriages at Trinity Minories is of 
 parchment, commencing Jan. 1579, and ending 3 June 1644, 
 and is by no means singular on account of the number of 
 
 ' Tom Brown in his works frequently notices the marriages at Duke's Place, 
 which, about 1586, was as noted a place for matrimony as ti>e Fleet became twenty 
 or thirty years afterwards. 
 
 " So he converts his sheep and other moveables into a purse of money, buys a 
 parcel of dates, and puts to sea; that is to say, furnishes him a iiouse, provides a 
 fine suit of cloathes, goes to Duke's Place, and mariics." — (Tom Brown's Ilorks, 
 vol. iv. p. 177, Edit, of 1774.) 
 
 " Thursday 24. — Six coui)le pair'd at Duke's Place, near ten [o'clock], repent 
 next mornino." \'o!. i. p. I U!. 
 
marriages. No. 2 begins 9 June 1()44, and ends Feb. 1648; 
 the marriages now begin to increase, and in the month of 
 July 1C45 are 30 entries. No. 3 is a rough square book, 
 much out of condition, with a brown paper cover, commenc- 
 ing Feb. 1657, and ending 25 July 1659 (the book from 
 1648 to 1657 is missing). No. 4 is a long rough book, com- 
 mencing 2 Februai-y 1660, and ending 9 April 1663, (from 
 this date to 1676 is missing). No. 5 is a large folio newly 
 bound in vellum, commencing 26 March 1676 and ending 
 21 June 1683, and contains about 6000 entries. No. 6 is a 
 very large folio volume, commencing 24 June 1683 ; it conti- 
 nues to January 27, 1686, when it refers to another book, and 
 begins again with November 1692, and ends 17 March 1754. 
 In this book are about 9000 entries. The reg-ister which 
 comes in between the first and second part of the last volume 
 commences 26 January 1686,' and ends November 1692; it 
 is roughly written, and contains about 5 or 6000 entries. 
 
 The first mention met witii of a marriage at the Fleet, is 
 in a letter from Alderman Lowe to Lady Hickes in iSept. 
 1613, (Lansd. MSS. 93—17.) 
 
 " Now I am to enform you that an ancyentt acquayntance of 
 y" and myne is yesterday maryed in the Fleette, one Mr. Gorge 
 Lestor, and hath maryed M""'' Babbington Mr. Thomas Fanshawe 
 mother in lawe. Itt is sayed slie is a woman of good wealthe, so 
 as nowe the man wylle able to lyve and mayntayn hymself in 
 prison, for hether unto he hath byne in poor estate. I praye God 
 he be nott encoryged by his marige to do as Becher doth, I mene 
 to troble his frynds in Lawe, but I hope he wyll have a better con- 
 scyence and more honestye than the other men bathe." 
 
 The date of the earliest Fleet register now preserved in 
 tbe Bishop of London's Registry, is 1674, and there is no 
 reason to believe that the marriages there recorded were clan- 
 
 ' The suspension of tlie Rector of Duke's Place took place about the time of 
 the commencement of this register, vvhicli may account for the discontinuance of 
 the regular register ; so tliat in case of a visit from the Commissioners, the register 
 would perhaps have been shewn as a proof that no marriages had been performed, 
 while in fact 5 or 6000 had been married, and entcied in another book. 
 
destine. Upon referring to the dates of the Fleet registers, 
 it will be found that (with one exception) they commence 
 about the period of the Order of the Ecclesiastical Commis- 
 sioners ; ' and it may fairly be conjectured that when the prac- 
 tice of clandestine marriages at Duke's Place and Trinity 
 Minories was checked by this order and the suspension of 
 Mr. Elliott, it was taken up by certain real and pretended 
 clergymen in and about the prisons" — not, however, on ac- 
 count of any real privilege or exemption attaching to these 
 prisons, for the marriages were not even confined to the 
 Rules of the Fleet, but were performed sometimes at the 
 villages adjacent,^ but because these Fleet parsons were 
 generally prisoners enjoying the Rules of the Fleet, and had 
 neither liberty, money, nor credit to lose by any proceedings 
 the Bishop might institute against them. 
 
 Some of the acts passed for preventing these marriages 
 convey particulars of the system adopted to evade prior 
 enactments upon the subject. Thus the 7th and 8th Wm. 
 III. cap. 35, recites the 6th and 7th Wm. cap. 7. sec. 52, and 
 that it was passed for the better levying the duty of 5s. on 
 licences and certificates, but was found ineffectual, because 
 the penalty of 100/. was not extended to every offence of the 
 same parson, and because the parsons employed poor and 
 indigent ministers, without benefices or settled habitations, 
 and because many ministers being in prison for debt and 
 otherwise, married persons for lucre and gain.^ 
 
 ' Order against Clandestine ]Marriages. (1 Compton, 94.) 
 
 ^ " The force and validity of a pretended marriage had or prophaned, at or near 
 May Fair, is now strongly contested at law, as being illegal and scandalous." — 
 General Advertiser, Dec. 17, 1747. 
 
 " Some of the persons that pretend to marry in the Fleet and the places adjacent 
 have been charged in the course of the law as not being in holy orders, by which 
 several unwary people have been great sufferers in the proof of their pretended 
 marriages." — General Advertiser, Dec. 12. 
 
 3 One of Mrs. Wigmore's advertisements of the Fleet registers mentions them to 
 contain the marriages " at all the different houses of the Fleet and other parts of 
 town and country.'' 
 
 * Peregrine Pickle becomes acquainted in tlie Fleet with a clergyman " who 
 found means to enjoy a pretty considerable income by certain irregular practices in 
 the way of his function." — Vol. iv. p. Mil. 
 
Of the iniquitous practices at tiie Fleet ample confirmation 
 is derived from the evidence of one of the Fleet parsons 
 themselves ; for sonie private memoranda made by Walter 
 Wyatt, in one of his pocket-books of 173G, are to the following 
 effect, showing that if there was not " some spark of grace 
 left," there were at least now and then some compunctions of 
 conscience. 
 
 " Give to every man his due, and learn y"= way of Truth. 
 
 " This advice cannot be taken by those that are concerned in 
 y* Fleet marriages ; not so mucli as y^ Priest can do y" thing y' 
 is just and right there, unless he designs to starve. For by lying, 
 bullying, and swearing, to extort money from the silly and un- 
 wary people, you advance your business and gets y* pelf, which 
 always wastes like snow in sun shiney day." 
 
 " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The mar- 
 rying in the Fleet is the beginning of eternal woe." 
 
 " If a dark or plyer tells a lye, you must vouch it to be as true 
 as y*^ Gospel ; and if disputed, you must affirm with an oath to y* 
 truth of a downright damnable falsehood. — Virtus laudatur & 
 alget." 1 
 
 '-' May God forgive me what is past, and give me grace to for- 
 sake such a wicked place, where truth and virtue can't take place 
 unless you are resolved to starve." 
 
 Many of the early Fleet weddings were really performed 
 at the chapel of the Fleet;' but as the practice extended, it 
 
 * " On Saturday last a Fleet parson was convicted before Sir Ric. Brocas of forty- 
 three oaths, (on the information of a plyer for weddings there,) for which awarrant 
 was granted to levy 41. 6s. on the goods of the said parson .: but, upon application 
 to his Worship, he was pleased to remit U. per oath ; upon which the plyer swore 
 he would swear no more against any man upon the like occasion, finding he could 
 get nothing by it." — Grub Street Journal, 20 July 1732. 
 
 2 " One Mrs. Ann Leigh, an heiress of £200. per annum and £6000. ready cash. 
 having been decoyed away from her friends in Buckinghamshire, and married at the 
 Fleet chapel against lier consent ; we hear the Lord Chief Justice Pratt hath 
 issued out his warrant for appieiiending the authors of this contrivance, who liave 
 used tJie young lady so barbarously, that she now lyes speechless."— Orj^'nm^ 
 fVeekly Journal, Sept. 26, 1719. 
 
 '< Captain Pealy, a half-pay officer, was apprehended and committed to the 
 Gate- House, for stealing one Mrs. Anne Leigh, as mentioned in our last." 
 
8 
 
 was found more convenient to have other places within the 
 Rules of the Fleet, (added to which, the Warden was com- 
 pelled by the act of 10th Anne, cap. 18. sec. 192, not to suffer 
 them,) and thereupon many of the Fleet parsons and tavern- 
 keepers in the neighbourhood fitted up a room in their re- 
 spective lodgings or houses as a chapel. The parsons took 
 the fees, allowing a portion to the plyers, &c. ; ' and the 
 tavern-keepers, besides sharing in the fees, derived a profit 
 from the sale of liquors which the wedding party drank. In 
 some instances the tavern-keepers kept a parson on their 
 establishment at a weekly salary of twenty shillings ; while 
 otherS; upon a wedding party arriving, sent for any clergy- 
 man they might please to employ,^ and divided the fee with 
 him. Most of the taverns near the Fleet kept their own 
 registers, in which (as well as in their own books) the par- 
 sons entered the weddings. 
 
 The author has an engraving (published about 17-17,) re- 
 presenting " A Fleet Wedding between a brisk young Sailor 
 and his Landlady's Daughter at Rederiff ;" it represents the 
 old Fleet market and prison, with the sailor, landlady, and 
 daughter, just stepping from a hackney-coach, while two 
 Fleet parsons in canonicals are offering their services. The 
 lines inscribed below the print are as follow: 
 
 Scarce had the coach discharg'd its trusty fare, 
 But gaping crowds surround th' amorous pair ; 
 The busy Plyers make a mighty stir, 
 And whisp'ring cry, D'ye want the Parson, Sir ? 
 Pray step this way— just to the Pen in Hand, 
 The Doctor's ready there at your command : 
 This way, (another cries) Sir, I declare, 
 The true and ancient Register is here: 
 
 ' Thus, on one occasion, ",Tlie Turnkey had I5. — Boyce Is. Clk— j« Plyer Is., 
 and I had 3s. 8d." {Ed. ^shicell.) 
 
 ' " Yesterday a cooper in St. John Street was seized and carried before .Justice 
 Robe, being charged with a r upon a certain young woman. The man, con- 
 sidering the danger lie was in, compounded llie affair by sending for a clergyman 
 from the I''leet, who married tliem at a tavern in Sinillitield, to tlie great joy of all 
 parlies."— P.'s/ Boy. 18 June 1730 
 
9 
 
 Th' alarmed Parsons quickly hear the din, 
 And haste with soothing words t' invite 'em in : 
 In this confusion jostled to and fro, 
 Th' inaniour'd couple know not where to go ; 
 Till slow advancing from the coaches side, 
 Th' experienc'd matron came, (an artful guide,) 
 She led the way without regarding either, 
 And the first Parson splic'd 'em both together. 
 
 The companion to this en^ravint^' is " The Sailor's Fleet 
 Wedding Entertainment," which represents the party sit- 
 ting at table, round a bowl of punch, with pipes, &c. : 
 amongst other pictures on the wall is a representation of the 
 Skimmington.^ Under the print are the following lines : 
 
 Jack rich in prizes, now the knot is ty'd. 
 Sits pleas'd by her he thinks his maiden bride. 
 But tho' a modest look by Molly 's shewn. 
 She only .... known. 
 
 The b now from her daughter's charge reliev'd, 
 
 With pleasure smiles to think how he 's deceiv'd ; 
 Experienc'd in the trade^ and void of shame, 
 To her the Man in crape imparts his flame. 
 
 The Lawyer grins, and Peg, with wanton glance, 
 Seems much delighted with Tom's antic dance. 
 Kit kisses Kate, vows she shall be his wife, 
 While cat and dog resemble nuptial strife. 
 The Skimmington observe. Mirth to provoke, 
 
 Sam points the horns, with many a b joke. 
 
 For spouse's cloaths, the baily's crew are seen, 
 And change, oh sad mishap ! the jovial scene. 
 
 In 1702 the Bishop of London held a visitation at the 
 Fleet, as appears by a paper in the Registry of tlie Consistory 
 Court to the following effect : — 
 
 ' A Skimmington is admirably described in Butler's Hudibras, (Lond. 1806-) 
 Vol. i. p. 467. — Ralpho describes it as — 
 
 a riding us'd of course, 
 
 When tlie grey mare 's the better horse : 
 When o'er the breeclies greedy women 
 Fight, to extend their vast dominion. 
 
10 
 
 4'" Junii 1702 Cor' Reverend: &c. 
 Dno E'po London in Carcere vulgo 
 vocat' y"" Fleet in Civitate London, 
 p'sente Ed' Alexander 
 Neg"" Visitac'onis in Carcere vulgo ) 
 vocat' y* Fleet London j 
 
 Comp' Mag' Jeronimus Alley Cl'ecus. 
 D^ E'pus monuit eum ad exhibend' D"" Cancellario ejus L'ras 
 Ordinum citra 24 diem Junii instan' & his LordsP ordered him 
 not to marry or perform any divine Office in y^ Chappell in y' 
 ffleet or in any place within y* Dioces untill he has exhibited 
 y' same. 
 
 M' Alley soon afterwards fled from y*^ s'' Prison & never exhi- 
 bited his orders. 
 
 Very little benefit was derived from this visitation except 
 the flight of Mr. Alley, who, however, left many behind in 
 the Fleet to supply his place. 
 
 An anonymous letter in the Bishop's Registry, written 
 some time between 1702 and 1714, contains some curious 
 particulars : 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I think it my Duty to God and y Queen to acquaint you 
 with y'' illegal practices of y* Ministers and Clark in y" Fleet Chap- 
 pell for marrying Clandestinely as they do som weeks fifty or sixty 
 couple. The Ministers that are there are as follows, M' Rob' El- 
 borough, he is an ancient man and is master of y* Chappie and mar- 
 ries but very few now without Banns or Licence, but under a 
 colour doth allow his Clark to do w* he pleases, his name is Barth : 
 Basset. There is there also one M' James Colton a Clergyman, 
 he lives in Leather Lane next door to y* Coach and horses, he 
 hath bin there these four years to marry, but no Prisoner, he 
 marries in Coffee-houses, in his own house, and in and about y^ 
 Fleet gate and all y" Rules over, not excepting any part of city 
 and Suburbs. This Clark Basset aforesaid registers wherever 
 Colton marries in y* Fleet Register and gives him Certificates. 
 C-olton had a living in Essex till y^' Bishop of London deprived 
 him for this and other ill Practices. There is also one M' Nehe- 
 miah Rogers, he is a prisoner but goes at larg to his P. Living in 
 Essex, and all places else, he is a very wicked man as lives for 
 drinking whoring and swearing, he has struck and boxed y' bride- 
 
11 
 
 groom in y' Cliapple and damned like any com'on souldier, he 
 marries both within and without y' Chappie like his brother Colton. 
 There was one Mr Alley, he was a Prisoner and y" benefit of wed- 
 dings, but is gone to some other preterm'. The abovesaid Basset 
 rents y^ sellers of y^ Fleet and pays for y* and two watchmen 100 
 and £20 p. ann. but he him pays but £20 per ann. for y" Clergy 
 pay all y" rest monthly, and if tliey do not they are threatened to 
 be confined or outed. This Clark hath bin sworn in D" Com- 
 mons not to marry any without Banns or Licence unless it be 
 such poor people as are recommended by y^ Justices in case of a 
 big belly, but have married since many hundreds as I and many 
 can testifie who are confined Prisoners. The chief days to marry 
 are Sundays Tuesdays and Saturdays, but evry day more or less. 
 The Clark Basset keeps a Register book, altho he told y* Bishop 
 of London he had none, he also antidates as he pleases as you 
 may see when you look over y* Registers, he hath another at his 
 sons, he does what he pleases and maintains a great family by 
 these ill practices. £200 p. ann. he hath at least. The Ministers 
 and Clark bribe one M' Shirley, I think him to be Collector for y^ 
 Queen's Taxes. I hope Sir you will excuse me for concealing my 
 name, hoping y* you will inspect into these base practices. 
 For 
 
 D" Newton Chancell"' 
 
 to my Lord of London 
 at D" Commons 
 These. 
 
 Iq 1712 another act was passed (10 Ann. cap. 19-) ap- 
 parently for the purpose of punishing parsons who, being 
 already prisoners, were in the habit of performing marriages, 
 without fear of affecting their liberty any farther. After 
 reciting the loss of duties by clandestine marriages, it enacts 
 that such offenders should be removed to the county gaol. 
 Notwithstanding this additional penalty, and the conviction 
 in 1716 of one John Mottram for solemnizing two clandes- 
 tine marriages,^ tlie law failed to prevent a continuance of 
 
 'In 1717 "John Mottram, Clerk, was tryed for solemnizing clandestine and 
 unlawful marriages in the Fleet Prison, and of keeping fraudulent Registers, 
 whereby it appeai'd that he had dated several marriages seveial years before he en- 
 ter'd into orders, and that he kept no less than nine several Registers at different 
 
12 
 
 the practice, and in 1718 a bill prepared by Mr. Brigstock 
 and Sir John Phillips for preventing clandestine marriages 
 was brought into tlie House of Commons, but dropped after 
 the second reading. In a hand-bill printed for distribution 
 about 1720, the reasons for the failure of the several acts in 
 preventing these marriages are described to be — 
 
 1. For that the penalty on the gaoler (which had ever 
 
 since deterred the Warden of the Fleet from suffering 
 any marriages there) was not extended to the owners of 
 taverns, alehouses, &c. 
 
 2. That the penalty on the clerk was too small and was not 
 
 extended to every person present at the marriage. 
 
 3. That the 10th Anne might be eluded by the offenders re- 
 
 moving themselves back to the Fleet by habeas corpus. 
 
 4. That every indigent clergyman that forfeits oClOO, de- 
 
 pending on the delay of a writ of error, carries on his 
 
 offences with impunity for a year and a half, in which 
 
 time his gain amounts to five times the sum of o£^100, 
 
 and then he runs away. 
 
 In 1735, another bill for preventing clandestine marriages 
 
 was introduced by Lord Gage and Mr. Pulteney, which passed 
 
 through a committee, and, with several amendments, was 
 
 agreed to by the House ; when upon the question being put, 
 
 that the Bill with the amendments be engrossed, it passed in 
 
 the negative.^ 
 
 houses, which contained many scandalous frauds. It also appeared, that a marriage 
 was antedated because of pregnancy ; and to impose on the ignorant there was 
 written underneatli, this scrap of barbarous Latin, " Hi non nupti fueruut sed 
 obtinerunt Testimonium propter timorem parentum," meaning that tiiey vvere not 
 marryed but obtained this private Register for fear of their parents. It rather 
 appeared from evidence, that these sham marriages were solemnized in a room in 
 tlie Fleet they call tlie Lord Mayor's C'happel, which was furnished with chairs, 
 cushions, and proper conveniencies, and that a coal-heaver was generally set to ply 
 at the door to recommend all couples that had a mind to be marry 'd, to the Prisoner, 
 who would do it cheaper than any body. It farther appear'd, that one of the Regis- 
 ters only contained above 2200 entrys which had been made within the last year." 
 — Heeklij Juurnal, Feb. 13. 
 
 He was tried at (Juildiiall befoic Lord Chief Justice Parker, found guilly and 
 fined X'20(). 
 
 ' .lournals, vol. xxii. p. 676. 
 
13 
 
 No other parliamentary measure was effecteil, and the prac- 
 tice continued to increase at the Fleet,' which was resorted 
 to by persons of all ranks and conditions in life, from the 
 nobleman to the chimney-sweeper, who desired to be married 
 with secrecy and despatch. It is not to be inferred that the 
 lower orders only resorted to the Fleet and its purlieus ; 
 very many of the middling classes of society, of respectability 
 and character, were married by Fleet parsons. Neither the 
 penalties of any of the before-mentioned acts, nor even ex- 
 communication,- had any effect in preventing these marriages, 
 
 ' " From an inspection into the several registers for marriages kept at the several 
 alehouses, brandy shops, &c. within the Rules of the Fleet Prison, we find no less 
 than 32 couple joined together from Monday to Thursday last without licenses, 
 contrary to an express act of Parliament against Clandestine Marriages., that lays 
 a severe fine of £200 on the minister so offending, and £100 each on the persons 
 so marry'd, in contradiction to the said statute. Several of the above-mentioned 
 brandy men and victuallers keep clergymen in their houses at 20s. per week each, 
 hit or miss, but it's reported that one there will stoop to no such low conditions, but 
 makes at least £500 per annum of Divinity -jobs after that manner. 'Tis pleasant 
 to see certain fellows plying by Fleet Bridge to take poor sailors, &:c. into the noose 
 of matrimony, every day throughout the week, and their clocks at their offices for 
 that purpose still standing at the canonical hour, though perhaps the time of day 
 be six or seven in the afternoon." — IVeehly Journal, 1723, June 29. 
 
 " Margaret Prendergrass and Mary Henson, two Irishwomen, were convicted at 
 the Old Bailey Sessions for aiding and assisting one Russell an Irishman in forcibly 
 marrying and bedding with a young gentlewoman, the pretended maniage being 
 performed by a Fleet parson." — D. Post, 4 May 1728. 
 
 " We hear a person hath been committed to the Fleet Prison for lately advertizing 
 in the public papers, a reward of an £100 to any that should discover and prove 
 the supposed marriage of two persons, by reason it might be an encouragement to 
 subornation of perjury." — If'eekly Journal, 1720, /iug. 
 
 ^ By the EcclesiasticaJ Law, all persons present at a clandestine marriage were 
 considered as thenceforth excommunicate. It was frequently necessary to prove 
 these marriages at Doctors' Commons, but the evidence of any witness present at 
 the ceremony was rejected until he or she had been absolved and had taken the 
 usual oath of absolution. 
 
 In the cause of Phillips v. Cross, Walter Wyatt (one of the most notorious of 
 the Fleet parsons) was offered as a witness, and was willing to take the usual oath 
 of a witness, but not the oath of absolution, and the Judge therefore refused him. 
 1754, May 24, William Faucit, Esq. John Grieison, Clerk, and William Bromley, 
 having incurred sentence of excommunication by having been present at a clandes- 
 tine marriage, were absolved. On the 28th, Susannah Faucit the wife was absolved. 
 (The Bishop's Assignations.) 
 
14 
 
 which it was well known were valid and indissoluble, al- 
 though irregular. 
 
 The newspapers of the day frequently adverted to the sad 
 consequences of Fleet marriages, and for some years the follow- 
 ing paragraph appeared occasionally in the various periodicals : 
 
 " Whereas several inconsiderate and unwary persons consent 
 to be married at the Fleet, May Fair, and other places, by sham 
 licences, widiout any banns or legal authority, by which the par- 
 ties that think themselves properly married, are much difficulted 
 in the proof of their marriages and of the legitimacy of their 
 children — It is thought proper for the well being, peace and secu- 
 rity of such as intend to marry, to make it known, that, besides 
 the inconveniences before mentioned, there is an act of Parlia- 
 ment made in the 7 and 8 years of king William, cap. 35, by which 
 it is enacted, That every parson, vicar, &c." (here follows the 
 penal clause.) 
 
 In a number of the Grub Street Journal for 1735, is 
 a very long letter on the practices at the Fleet, which faith- 
 fully describes the treachery and low habits of the Fleet 
 parsons ; and the daily prints of that period constantly con- 
 tained paragraphs describing the disgraceful practices pre- 
 valent there.^ A walk past the Fleet Prison at that period, 
 
 ' Sir — There is a very great evil in this tovt^n, and of dangerous consequence to 
 our sex, that has never been suppressed, to the great prejudice and ruin of many hun- 
 dreds of young people every year ; which I beg some of your learned heads to con- 
 sider of, and consult of proper ways and means to prevent for the future. I mean 
 the ruinous marriages that are practised in the liberty of the Fleet, and thereabouts, 
 by a sett of drunken swearing parsons, with their myrmidons, tliat wear black coats 
 and pretend to be clerks and registers to the Fleet, These ministers of wickedness 
 ply about Ludgate Hill pulling and forcing people to some pedling alehouse or 
 a brandy-shop to be married, even on a Sunday stopping them as they go to church 
 and almost tearing their cloaths ofl" their backs. To confirm the trutli of these facts, 
 I will give you a case or two whicli lately happened. 
 
 Since Midsummer last a young lady of birth and fortune was deluded and forced 
 from her friends, and by the assistance of a wry-necked swearing parson married 
 to an atheistical wretch, whose life is a continued practice of all manner of vice and 
 debauchery. And since the ruin of my relation, another lady of my acquaintance 
 had like to have been trepanned in the following manner. This lady had appointed 
 to meet a gentlewoman at the Old Playhouse in Drury-lane : but extraordinary bu- 
 siness prevented her coming. Being alone when the play was done, she bade a boy 
 call a coacji for the city. One dressed like a gentleman helps her into it, and 
 
16 
 
 would appear to resemble a walk through Rag Fair at the 
 present day. 
 
 jumps in after her. " Madam," says he, " this coach was called for me, ami since 
 
 the weather is so bad and there is no -other, I beg leave to bear you company : 1 am 
 
 going into the city and will set you down wherever you please." The lady begged 
 
 to be excused ; but he bade the coachman drive on. lieing come to Lud^atc Hill, 
 
 he told her his sister who waited his coming, but five doors up the court, would go 
 
 with her in two minutes. He went, and returned with his pretended sister, who 
 
 asked her to step in one minute, and she would wait upon her in the coach. Deluded 
 
 with the assurance of having his sister's company, the poor lady foolishly followed 
 
 her into the house, when instantly the sister vanished ; and a tawny fellow in a 
 
 black coat and black wig appeared. " Madam, you are come in good time, the 
 
 Doctor was just a-going!" " The Doctor;" says she, horribly frighted, fearing it 
 
 was a madhouse : " What has the Doctor to do with me V " To marry you to that 
 
 gentleman : the Doctor has waited for you these three hours, and will be payed by 
 
 you or that gentleman before you go !" " That gentleman !" says she, recovering 
 
 herself, " is worthy a better fortune than mine," and begged hard to be gone. But 
 
 Doctor Wryneck swore she should be married ; or, if she would not, he would still 
 
 have his fee, and register the marriage from that night. The lady finding she could 
 
 not escape without money or a pledge, told them she liked the gentleman so well, 
 
 she would certainly meet him to-morrow night, and gave them a ring as a pledge : 
 
 which, says she, " was my mother's gift on her death-bed, injolning that, if ever I 
 
 married, it should be my wedding-ring." By which cunning contrivance she was 
 
 delivered from the black Doctor and his tawny crew. Some time after this I went 
 
 with this lady and her brother in a coach to Ludgate Hill in the day time, to see 
 
 the manner of their picking up people to be married. As soon as our coach stopt 
 
 near Fleet Bridge, up comesone of themyrmidons. " Madam," says he, "you want 
 
 a parson !" " Who are you V says I. " 1 am the clerk and register of the Fleet." 
 
 " Show me the chapel." At which comes a second, desiring me to go along with him- 
 
 Says he, " That fellow will carry you to a pedling alehoiise." Says a third, " Go 
 
 with me, he will carry you to a brandy-shop." In the interim comes the Doctor : 
 
 " Madam," says he, " I'll do your jobb for you presently !" " Well, gentlemen," 
 
 says I, " since you can't agree, and I can't be married quietly, I'll put it off 'till 
 
 another time:" so drove away. Learned Sirs, I wrote this in regard to the honour 
 
 and safety of my own sex : and if for our sakes you will be so good as to publish 
 
 it, correcting the errors of a woman's pen, you will oblige our whole sex, and none 
 
 more than, Sir, 
 
 Your constant reader and admirer, 
 
 January I5th, 1734-5. Virtuous. 
 
 From the Grub Street Journal. 
 
 " The clergymen who perform marriages within the Rules of the Fleet Prison, are 
 under prosecution at the suit of the Crown, for not giving their certificates upon 
 stamp paper, pursuant to the statute in that case made and provided." — Grub 
 Street Journal, 1 August 1730. 
 
 " We hear the frequent clandestine marriages at the Fleet have given such dis- 
 trust that henceforth special licences will be granted to Commoners, whicli were 
 
16 
 
 The marriage at the Fleet of the Hon. Henry Fox' with 
 Georgiana Caroline, eldest daughter of Charles second 
 Duke of Richmond, was in 1744 a subject of general 
 conversation; but it was not until 1753 that the law of 
 marriage was taken up with effect, when Lord Hard- 
 wicke brought in a Bill, (26 Geo. II. c. 33.) enacting that 
 any person solemnizing matrimony in any other than a 
 church or public chapel without banns or licence, should on 
 conviction be adjudged guilt tj of feloni/, and be transported 
 for fourteen years, and that all such marriages should be void. 
 
 Such an impediment to matrimony, which theretofore had 
 been validly contracted without even the presence of a cler- 
 gyman — such " an imiovation (to use the words of Black- 
 stone) upon our ancient Laws and Constitution,'''' could not 
 be expected to pass into a law without a violent opposition. 
 Mr. Fox's popularity was arrived at such a height from his 
 strenuous opposition to the Bill, that for several days his 
 chariot was dragged along the streets by the populace.^ 
 Handbills (pro and con) were distributed ; those in favour of 
 the Bill urging that clandestine marriages had been the ruin 
 of many families, that the religious establishment of marriage 
 
 formerly allowed only to the nobility, to put a stop for the future to all scandalous 
 practices of that kind." — Daily Post, 15 April 1737. 
 
 " A gentleman near the middle of the Strand died last week possessed of a con- 
 siderable fortune, wliich he bequeathed into the hands of trustees to his wife, but 
 with this exception, that in case she married an Irishman, the trustees were to pay 
 her £10 10s. for a Fleet marriage, a dinner, a ring, &c., the remainder, which is 
 about 8000L to devolve to his nephew." — Daily Post, 1742. 
 
 In Pennant's History of London, 4to. 1791, 224, tlie author says of the Fleet, 
 " In walking along the street in my youth on the side next to this Prison, 1 have 
 often been tempted by the question, Sir, will you he pleased to walk in and be mar- 
 ried ? Along this most lawless space was hung up the frequent sign of a male and 
 female hand conjoined, with ' Marriages performed ivilhin' written beneath. A 
 dirty fellow invited you in. The parson was seen walking before his shop ; a squalid 
 prufligate figure, clad in a tattered plaid night-gown, witii a fiery face, and ready to 
 couple you for a dram of gin or roll of tobacco." 
 
 ' He was second son of Sir Stephen Fox, and born 1705. Having been appointed 
 Surveyor of the Board of Works 1737 ; a Commissioner of the Treasury 1743 ; Se- 
 cretary at War, 1746 ; Secretary of Slate, 1755 ; he was at length created a Peer 
 in 17(i3 by the title of Haron Holland of FoxJey, county \\'ilts. She was born 
 March 1723, and created Ijaroncss Holland in 1762. 
 
 ' Wilkinson's Memoirs. 
 
IT 
 
 Avas entirely subvertfcl, and the legal evidence ihereuf ren- 
 dered precarious ; while the others contended that the Bill 
 would discourage marriage, that it was brought in for the 
 protection of the fortunes of the noble and rich against alli- 
 ances with persons in more humble circumstances, and ad- 
 verted amongst other things to the Council of Trent as 
 having first annulled clandestine marriages^ and made the 
 presence of a priest necessary to every marriage, and that it 
 was after " that excellent precedent'''' that the Bill in question 
 was drawn. 
 
 Notwithstanding the zealous opposition- to the Bill, it 
 
 ' This by the by was not so. " Dubitandum non est clandeslina malrimonia 
 libero contrahentium consensu facta rata et vera esse matrimonia. • * * Perinde 
 jure damnandi sunt, sicut et eos Sancta Synodus anathemate damnat, qui ea vei-a et 
 rata esse negant." — Con. Trid. De Matrimonio, Cap. I. 
 
 * In the correspondence of the Hon. Horace Walpole, M. P. for Castlerising, 
 (afterwards Earl of Oiford,) there are two letters in which the subject of this Bill 
 is mentioned ; and from which the following extracts are made. The first is a letter 
 dated Strawberry Hill, May 22, 1753, addressed to George Montagu, Esq- 
 
 " News, there is none to tell you. We liave had two days in the House of Com- 
 mons, that had something of the air of parliament ; there has been a marriage-bill, 
 invented by my Lord Bath, and cooked up by the Chancellor, which was warmly 
 opposed by the Duke of Bedford in the Lords, and with us by Fox and Nugent : 
 the latter made an admirable speech last week against it, and Charles Townshend 
 another very good one yesterday, when we sat till near ten o'clock, but were beat,' 
 We in minority, by 165 to 84." — See Correspondence, Vol. L 284. 
 
 The second is in a letter to the Hon. Henry Seymour Conway. Henry Seymour 
 Conway married, 1747, Caroline Campbell, only daughter of John fourth Duke of 
 Argyle, relict of Charles Bruce first Earl of Aylesbury. 
 
 " It is well you are married. How would my Lady Ailesbury have liked to be 
 asked in a parish church, for three Sundays running 1 I really believe she would 
 have worn her weeds for ever, rather than have passed through so impulent a cere- 
 mony ! What do you think 1 But you will want to know the interpretation of this 
 preamble. W'hy, there is a new Bill, which, under the notion of preventing clan- 
 destine marriages, has made such a general rummage and reform in the office of 
 matrimony, that every Strephon and Chloe every Dowager and her H***, will 
 have as many impediments and formalities to undergo as a treaty of peace. Lord 
 Bath invented this Bill, but had drawn it so ill, that the Chancellor^ was forced 
 to draw a new one ; and then grew so fond of his own creature, that he has cram- 
 med it down the throats of both Houses, though they gave many a gulp, before 
 they could swallow it. The Duke of Bedford attacked it first with great spirit and 
 mastery, but had little support, though the Duke of Newcastle did not vote. 
 
 "The lawyers were all ordered to nurse it through our House; but except the 
 ■* Lord Hardwicke. 
 C 
 
18 
 
 eventually passed into a law, and was to take effect from the 
 25tli of March 1754'. Mr. Fox is represented to have held 
 
 poor Attorney-General,' (who is nurse indeed, to all intents and purposes, 
 and did amply gossip over it,) not one of thera said a word. Nugent shone ex- 
 tremely in opposition to the Bill, and though every now and then on the pre- 
 cipice of absurdity, kept clear of it with great humour and wit and argument, and 
 was unanswered. Yet we were beat. Last Monday it came into the committee, 
 Charles Townshend acted a very good speech, with great cleverness, and drew a 
 picture of liis own story, and his father's tyranny, with at least as much parts as 
 modesty. Mr. Fox mumbled the Chancellor and his lawyers, and pinned the plan 
 of the Bill upon a pamphlet he had found of Dr. G ally's, where the Doctor, re- 
 commending the French scheme of matrimony, says, ' It was found that fathers 
 were too apt to forgive.' — ' The Gospel, I thought,' said Mr. Fox, ' enjoined 
 forgiveness, but pious Dr. Gaily thinks ' fathers are too apt to forgive.' Mr. 
 Pelliam, extremely in his opinion against the liill, and in his inclination too, was 
 forced to rivet it ; and, without speaking one word for it, taught the House to vole 
 foi it, and it was carried against the chairman's leaving the chair, by 165 to 84. 
 This is all the news I know, or at least was all when I came out of town ; for 
 I left the tinkering of the Bill, and came hither last Tuesday to my workmen." 
 —(24 May 1753.) 
 
 " May 29. 
 
 " 1 am come to town for a day or two, and find that the RIarriage Bill has 
 
 not only lasted till now in the Committee, but has produced, or at least disclosed 
 
 extreme heats. Mr. Fox and Mr. Pelham have had very high word on every clause, 
 
 and the former has renewed his attacks on the Chancellor under the name of Dr. 
 
 Gaily The Speaker, who had spoken well against the clause, was so mis-' 
 
 represented by the Attorney-General, that there was danger of a Skimmington be- 
 tween the great wig and the coif, the former having given a flat lie to the latter." 
 
 There is another letter to George Montagu, Esq. dated June 11, in which Horace 
 Walpole says : 
 
 " The Commons abuse the Barons, and the Barons return'd it; in short, Mr. 
 Fox attacked the Chancellor violently on the Marriage Bill, and when it was sent 
 back to the Lords, the Chancellor made the most outrageous invective on Fox that 
 ever was heard. But what offends still more, I don't mean oflends Fox more, was 
 the Chancellor describing the chief persons who had opposed his Bill in the Com- 
 mons, and giving reasons why he excused them. As the Speaker was in the number 
 of the excused, the two maces are ready to come to blows. The town says, that 
 Mr. Fox is to be dismissed, but 1 can scarce think it will go so far.'' 
 
 Ill the additional letters of Horace \\'alpole, recently published under the editor- 
 ship of the late lamented Loid Dover, (Vol. 111. p. 94, 8vo. Bentley. 1833,) the 
 following remarks occur in a letter addressed to Horace, afterwards Sir Horace 
 Mann, dated Strawberry Hill, June 12, 1753 : 
 
 " A Bill to prevent clandestine marriages,' so drawn by the judges as to clog all 
 
 Sir Dudley Ryder. 
 
 The noble editor has appended to this passage a note stating that this Bill con- 
 
19 
 
 Lip the Bill with all the additions, alterations, and erasures 
 it had sustained, and, to the infinite amusement of the 
 House, to have pronounced a parody on Anthony's oration 
 over the mangled body of Caesar. It appears that tlie 
 amendments and alterations that had been made in the Bill 
 by the opposition, were designed to defeat its adoption, 
 when returned to the Lords ; their object, however, failed, 
 as the Lords, in order to out-manoeuvre the tactics of the 
 opposition in the Lower House, consented to pass the Bill, 
 even though it appeared before them like Banquo's ghost, 
 with twenty mortal murders on its head.^ 
 
 The interval between the passing of the Bill and the time at 
 which it was to come into operation, was busily employed in 
 marrying both at the Fleet" and May Fair, (another noted 
 
 matrimony in general, was inadvertently espoused by the Chancellor, and havino 
 been strongly attacked in the House of Commons by Nugent, the Speaker, Mr. 
 Fox, and others, the last went very great lengths of severity on the whole body of 
 the law, and on its chieftain in particular, which, however, at the last reading, lie 
 softened and explained off extremely. This did not appease ; but on the return of 
 the liill to the House of Lords, where our amendments were to be read, the Chan- 
 cellor in the most personal terms harangued against Fox, and concluded with say- 
 ing, that ' he despised his scurrility as much as his adulation and recantation.' " 
 
 Horatio Walpole, son of Sir Edward VValpole, K. B., and brother of Robert 
 the father of Sir Robert Walpole, K. G. first Earl of Orford, and great uncle to 
 Horace Walpole the writer of these letters, was married at St. James Duke's Place, 
 26 March l(j91, to Anne daughter of Thomas Duke of Leeds, the relict of Robert 
 Coke of Holkham, in the county of Norfolk, Esq. — For an account of the marriat^es 
 solemnized at Duke's Place, see p. 4. 
 
 The history of the Marriage Act and tlie discussions to which it gave rise, are but 
 very imperfectly preserved. The best is that wliich Lord Orford has given in his 
 " Memoires of the last Ten Years of the reign of George the Second," and is printed 
 at length at the end of this chapter, from its immediate connection with the subject 
 here treated of : and it is more likely to become accessible in this little volume, 
 than in the ponderous quartos in which Mr. Murray has presented it to the public. 
 
 ' Debrett, vol. iii. p. 180. 
 
 ' This gave rise to the following satiiical paragraph in the Daily Advertiser of 
 21 Oct. 1753 : 
 
 tinued " in force till some years ago, and until the injustice of its provisions, and 
 tlie grievances resulting from them, became too great to be borne." It may be 
 inferred from this observation, that Lord Hardwicke's Act has been repealed, which 
 is not the case ; that act remains in full force. 
 
 c 2 
 
so 
 
 place for marriages.) At the Fleet tliere appears by one 
 register book alone to have been on the 25th of March (the 
 day previous to the Act coming into operation) 217 n)ar- 
 riages ; wliich were the last of the Fleet Weddings} 
 
 " Whereas there will shortly be an end put to the marriages of the Fleet, this is 
 
 to infonn the public that Mr. late ticket-porter on Snow Hill, has undertaken 
 
 to marry and unmarry on very reasonable terms, so that all persons so inclined, for 
 
 farther satisfaction are desired to apply to at his office in Turn-again Lane, 
 
 Snow Hill, where constant attendance is given from one in the afternoon till six. — 
 Note, as 'tis presumed the applications will be made more by the married than the 
 unmarried, those parties are required to bring their certificates." 
 
 The following propositions upon the subject of marriage, which appeared in the 
 Grub Street Journal in the year 1733, were copied into the Scot's Magazine on the 
 agitation of the question in 1753 : 
 
 " Clauses proposed to be added to the late Act against Clandestine Marriages. 
 
 " When two young thoughtless fools, having no visible way to maintain them- 
 selves, nor any thing to begin the world with, resolve to marry and be -miserable : 
 let it be deemed petty larceny. 
 
 " If a younger brother marries an old woman purely for the sake of a mainte- 
 nance ; let it be called self-preservation. 
 
 " When a rich old fellow marries a young wench in her full bloom, it shall be 
 death without henejit of clergy. 
 
 " When two old creatures that can hardly hear one another speak, and cannot 
 propose the least comfort to themselves in the thing, yet marry together to be mise- 
 rable, they shall be deemed ?ion compos, and sent to a mad-house. 
 
 " When a lady marries her servant, or a gentleman his cook-maid (especially 
 if there are children by a former marriage), they both shall be transported for 
 fourteen years. 
 
 " When a man has had one bad wife and buried her, and yet will marry a second, 
 it shall be deemed /e/o de se, and he shall be buried in the highway accordingly. 
 
 " And when a man or woman marries to the disinheriting of their children, let 
 them suffer as in cases of High Treason." 
 
 ' At the Savoy, however, clandestine marriages were continued till 1756, but 
 eventually ceased upon the conviction and transportation of the minister, Mr. 
 Wilkinson, and his curate, Mr. Grierson. I have a scarce etching of " The Rev. 
 Mr. Grierson, who was transported for marrying at the Savoy, contrary to Act of 
 Parliament, 1756." INIr. Wilkinson was the father of Tate Wilkinson the come- 
 dian, (See his Memoirs, 4 vols. 8vo. 1790) 
 
 A method of evading the enactments of the Marriage Act was soon discovered, for 
 in 1760 there were " at Southampton, vessels always ready to carry on the trade of 
 smucrgling weddings, which for the price of five guineas transport contraband goods 
 into the land of matrimony," (Guernsey.) — Gent. Mng. 1760, p. 30. In ]5athurst 
 and INlurray (8 Vesey, 74) the \\ ard of Court was taken to Guernsey to be married. 
 And we have still a species of Fleet parson left in the person of the Rev. David 
 Lavg, of Gretna Green, where clandestine weddings may still be solemnized, but 
 not at so small a charge !»s the cheap weddings of the Fleet. 
 
21 
 
 On the subject of tliis act, Blackstone says, " Much may 
 be, and much has been said, both for and against this inno- 
 vation upon our antient laws and constitution. On the one 
 hand it prevents the clandestine marriages of minors, which 
 are often a terrible inconvenience to those private families 
 wherein they happen. On the other hand, restraints upon 
 marriages, especially among the lower class, are evidently 
 detrimental to the public, by hindering the increase of the 
 people; and to religion and morality, by encouraging licen- 
 tiousness and debauchery among the single of both sexes ; 
 and thereby destroying one end of society and government, 
 which is concuhitu prohibere vago. And of this last incon- 
 venience the Roman laws were so sensible, that at the same 
 time that the}^ forbad marriage without the consent of pa- 
 rents or guardians, they were less rigorous upon that very 
 account with regard to other restraints ; for, if a parent did 
 not provide a husband for his daughter by the time she 
 arrived at the age of twenty -five, and she afterwards made a 
 slip in her conduct, he was not allowed to disinherit her 
 upon that account ; (juia non sua culpa, sed parentum, id 
 commisisse cos^noscitur.'''"^ 
 
 There have been several attempts in the House of Com- 
 mons to repeal Lord Hardwicke's Act : the first was in 1765, 
 when a Bill was introduced for its repeal, and also " to re- 
 move all doubts which may have arisen or may arise concern- 
 ing the validity of certain marriages solemnized since the 
 making of the said act, and for the regulating registers and 
 for preserving the evidence of pedigrees," which appears to 
 have passed and been sent up to the House of Lord?, who 
 never returned it.- In 1772 a second attempt was made — on 
 the 7th of April in that year, a motion was made that The 
 Marriage Act be read, which being done, a motion was then 
 made for leave to bring in a Bill to amend the said Act, which 
 was carried by a majority of one, the numbers being for leave 
 62, against 61. The Bill was accordingly brought in and passed 
 throuo-h a Committee, where it was amended, and on the 19th 
 
 ' Commentaries, vol. i. p. 438. ' Journals, vol. 30. p. 104. 
 
22 
 
 of May following, reported to the House and agreed to, but 
 on tlie question being put that the Bill be engrossed, it passed 
 in the negative, the numbers on a division being 34 for, and 
 92 against it.^ A third but unsuccessful attempt was made in 
 1781, when a Bill was brought in to amend it in the follow- 
 ing particulars : 
 
 " To repeal the clause requiring publication of banns. 
 
 " To repeal the clause enacting that no licence shall be 
 granted to marry in any other church, &c. than where one of 
 the parties lived. 
 
 " To repeal the clause enacting that all marriages so- 
 lemnized without publication of banns, or licence, should 
 be void. 
 
 " To make valid all marriages of English persons in 
 Scotland. 
 
 " To make void all marriages solemnized in any place not 
 being a parish church or chapel, (except by special licence.") 
 Journals of the House of Commons. 
 
 The Earl of Orford's account of the introduction of 
 the Marriage Bill, and the discussions which took place in 
 Parliament, extracted from his " Memoires of the last Ten 
 Years of the Reign of George the Second." — 2 vols. 4to. 
 Murray, 1822. 
 
 " The session of parliament was languishing towards a conclu- 
 sion, when a Bill sent down from the Lords to the Commons, and 
 which had passed almost without notice through the former House, 
 having heen carried by an hundred Lords against the Duke of 
 Bedford and eleven others, raised, or gave occasion to raise, ex- 
 traordinary heats. This was the famous Marriage Bill ; an act of 
 such notoriety, and on which so very much was said at the time, 
 and on which so much has been written since, that it would be 
 almost impossible, at least very wearisome, to particularize the de- 
 bates, and very unnecessary to enter much into the state of the 
 question. Some of the most particular passages, such as tend to 
 
 .'ouinals. ]). ()71 ami 67;5. 
 
23 
 
 illustrate or explain the characters, the politics, and the factions of 
 the time, I shall, according to my custom, succinctly touch. 
 
 " The Bill had been originally moved by my Lord Bath, who 
 attending a Scotch cause, was struck with the hardship of a ma- 
 trimonial case, in which a man, after a marriage of thirty years, 
 was claimed by another woman on a praecontract. The judges 
 were ordered to frame a bill which should remedy so cruel a re- 
 trospect. They did ; but drew it so ill, and it was three times 
 printed so inaccurately, that the Chancellor was obliged to give it 
 ample correction. Whether from mere partiality to an ordinance 
 thus become his own, or whether in shaping a law, new views of 
 power opened to a mind fond of power, fond of dictating; so it 
 was that the Chancellor gave all his attention to a statute into 
 which he had breathed the very spirit of aristocracy and insolent 
 nobility. It was amazing, in a country where liberty gives choice, 
 where trade and money confer equality, and where facility of 
 marriage had alwaj's been supposed to produce populousness, it 
 was amazing to see a law promulged, that cramped inclination, that 
 discountenanced matrimony, and that seemed to annex as sacred 
 privileges to birth, as could be devised in the proudest, poorest 
 little Italian principality ; and as if the artificer had been a Teu- 
 tonic Margrave, not a little lawyer, who had raised himself by his 
 industry from the very lees of the people ; and who had matched 
 his own blood with the great house of Ke/it ! The abuse of prae- 
 contracts had occasioned the demand of a remedy — the physician 
 immediately prescribes rnedicines for every ailment to which the 
 ceremony of marriage was or could be supposed liable ! Publica- 
 tion of Banns was already an established ordinance, but totally in 
 disuse except amongst the inferior people, who did not blush to 
 obey the law. Persons of quality, who proclaimed every other 
 step of their conjugation by the most public parade, were ashamed 
 to have the intention of it notified, and were constantly married 
 by special licence. Unsuitable matches in a country where the 
 passions are not impetuous, and where it is neither easy nor cus- 
 tomary to tyrannize the inclinations of children, were by no means 
 frequent : the most disproportioned alliances, those contracted by 
 age, by dowagers, were without the scope of this Bill. Yet the new 
 Act set out with a falsehood, declaiming against clandestine mar- 
 riages, as if they had been a frequent evil. The greatest abuse 
 were the temporary weddings clapped up in the Fleet, and by one 
 
24 
 
 Keith, who had constructed a very bishoprick for revenue in May 
 Fair, by performing that charitable function for a trifling sum, 
 which the poor successors of the Apostles are seldom humble 
 enough to perform out of duty. The new Bill enjoined indispens- 
 able publication of Banns, yet took away their validity, if parents, 
 nay, if even guardians, signified their dissent, where the parties 
 should be under age — a very novel power ! — but gua'-dians are a 
 limb of Chancery ! The Archbishop's licence was indeed reserved 
 to him. A more arbitrary spirit was still behind : persons solem- 
 nizing marriages, without these previous steps, were sentenced to 
 transportation, and the marriage was to be effectually null — so 
 close did congenial law clip the wings of the prostrate priesthood ! 
 And as if such rigour did not sufficiently describe its fountain and 
 its destination, it was expressly specified, that where a mother 
 or a guardian should be non co^npos, resort might be had to the 
 Chancellor himself for licence. Contracts and prsecontracts, other 
 flowers of ecclesiastical prerogative, were to be totally invalid, and 
 their obligations abolished : and the gentle institution was wound 
 up with the penalty of death for all forgeries in breach of this 
 statute of modern Draco. Quakers, Jews, and the royal family 
 had the only toleration. 
 
 " May 14th. — The Bill came down to the Commons. Nugent 
 took it to pieces severely and sensibly, pointed out the impropriety 
 of it in a commercial nation, and the illnature and partiality of the 
 restrictions. He showed himself a great master of political dis- 
 quisitions, and it seemed that a desire of displaying that learning 
 was the sole cause of any opposition to the Bill. This was all 
 that passed material the first day, and the Bill was read on a ma- 
 jority of 116 to 55. 
 
 "21st. — A second adversary appeared against the Bill. This 
 was Charles Townshend, second son of my Lord Townshend, a 
 young man of unbounded ambition, of exceeding application, and, 
 as it now appeared, of abilities capable of satisfying that ambition, 
 and of not wanting that application : yet to such parts and such 
 industry he was fond of associating all the little arts and falsehood 
 that always depreciate, though so often thought necessary by, a 
 genius. He had been an early favourite of Lord Halifax, and had 
 alieady distinguished himself on affairs of trade, and in drawing 
 plans and papers for that province ; but not rising in proportion to 
 his ambition, he comlortcd himself with employing as many stra- 
 
9n 
 
 tagems, as had ever been imputed to the most successful states- 
 men. His figure was tall and advantageous, his action vehement, 
 his voice loud, his laugh louder. He had art enough to disguise 
 any thing but his vanity. He spoke long and with much wit, and 
 drew a picture, with much humour at least, if not with much 
 humility, of himself and of his own situation, as the younger son 
 oC a capricious father, who had already debarred him from an ad- 
 vantageous match : ' were new shackles to be forged to keep 
 young men of abilities from mounting to a level with their elder 
 brothers ?' Nugent had not shone with more parts the preceding 
 day; Nugent on no day discovered less modesty. What will be 
 their fates I know not ; but this Mr. Townshend and Mr. Conway 
 seemed marked by nature for leaders, perhaps for rivals in the 
 government of their country. The quickness of genius is emi- 
 nently with the first, and a superiority of application: the propriety 
 and amiableness of character with the latter. One grasps at for- 
 tune ; the other only seems pleased to accept fortune when it ad- 
 vances to him. The one foresees himself equal to every thing; 
 the other finds himself so, whenever he essays. Charles Towns- 
 hend seems to have no passion but ambition ; Harry Conway not 
 even to have that. The one is impetuous and unsteady; the other 
 cool and determined. Conway is indolent, but can be assiduous; 
 Charles Townshend can only be indefatigable. The latter would 
 govern mankind for his own sake ; the former for theirs. 
 
 " The speeches hitherto had only been flourishes in the air: 
 at last the real enemy came forth, Mr. Fox ; who neither spared 
 the Bill nor the author of it, as wherever he laid his finger, it was 
 not wont to be light. He was supported by Fazakerley and Sir 
 William Yonge. Mr. Pelham, the Attorney and Solicitor, Lord 
 Hilsborough, Hampden, and Lord Egmont supported the Bill, and 
 it was carried that day by 165 to 84. 
 
 " On the :23rd and 25th, the house sat late each day on the Bill, 
 Mr. Fox attacking and Mr. Pelham defending with eager peevish- 
 ness. The former repeated his censures on the Chancellor, which 
 old Horace Walpole reproved; Nugent was absurd; and the mea- 
 sure growing ministerial, the numbers against the Bill diminished. 
 
 "28th. —The Committee sat till half an hour past three in the 
 morning on the clause for annulling marriages that should be con- 
 tracted contrary to the inhibitions in the Bill. The churchmen 
 acquiesced in the legislature's assuming this power in spirituals; 
 
26 
 
 as they had done in the single case of" the young king's marriage 
 ill the Regency Bill : but however commendable the moderation 
 of the clergy might be ; the pontific power arrogated by the head 
 of the law, and his obstinate persisting to enforce a statute, by no 
 means calculated or called for by general utility, was most in- 
 decent. The Speaker argued with great weight against the clause ; 
 Wilbraham, well for it. Mr. Fox at one in the morning spoke 
 against it for above an hour, and laid open the chicanery and 
 jargon of the lawyers, the pride of their Mufti, and the arbitrary 
 manner of enforcing the Bill. A motion for adjournment was 
 moved, but was rejected by above 80 to 40 odd. 
 
 "30th. — The Committee went upon the clause that gave unheard- 
 of power, in the first resort to parents and guardians, and then to 
 the chancery, on the marriages of minors. Fox spoke with increas- 
 ing spirit against this clause too ; and on Wilbraham's having said, 
 if you have a sore leg, will you not try gentle remedies first ? he 
 drew a most severe picture of the Chancellor, under the applica- 
 tion of the story of a gentlewoman at Salisbury, who having a sore 
 leg, sent for a country surgeon, who pronounced it must be cut 
 off. The gentlewoman, unwilling to submit to the operation, sent 
 for another, more merciful, who said he could save her leg, with- 
 out the least operation. The surgeons conferred: the ignorant 
 one said, ' 1 know it might be saved, but I have given my opinion ; 
 my character depends upon it, and we nmst carry it through' — the 
 leg was cut off. Charles Yorke, the Chancellor's son, took this 
 up with great anger, and yet with preciseness, beginning with 
 these words, ' It is new in parliament, it is new in politics, it is 
 new in ambition ;' and drew a lofty character of his father, and of 
 the height to which he had raised himself by his merit; conclud- 
 ing with telling Fox, how imprudent it was to attack such autho- 
 rity, and assuring him that he would feel it. Mr. Fox replied with 
 repeating the sententious words; 'Is it new in parliament to be 
 conscientious? 1 hope not! is it new in politics? I am afraid it 
 is ! is it new in ambition ? it certainly is, to attack such authori- 
 ty !' Mr. Pelham answered him well. Mr. Fox once more replied, 
 urging how cruel and absurd it was to force the Bill down : that 
 he knew he should not be heard by above one third of the house, 
 but would speak so loud, that he would be heard out of the house. 
 That from the beginning to the end of the Bill, one only view had 
 predominated, that of pride and aristocracy. There was much of 
 
27 
 
 truth in this. At the very beginning, on the Duke of Newcastle's 
 dechning to vote in the Bill, the Chancellor told Mr. Pelhani, ' I 
 will be supported in this, or I never will speak for you again.' As 
 the opposition had at that time been inconsiderable, this breathed 
 a little more than a mere spirit of obstinacy, and foretold a Bill to 
 be framed not without an interested meaning : at least a legislator 
 is uncommonly zealous for the public good, who forgets the phi- 
 losophy of his character to drive on his honest ordinances by 
 political menaces ! 
 
 " The next day the Committee finished without a division. Sir 
 Richard Lloyd, a lawyer, who had spoken against the Bill, voted 
 for it afterwards, without assigning any reasons for his change of 
 opinion. Captain Saunders, who had said that he would go and 
 vote against the Bill, for the sake of the sailors, having once given 
 forty of his crew leave to go on shore for an hour, and all returned 
 married, was compelled by Lord Anson, the Chancellor's son-in- 
 law and his patron, to vote for it. Henley and the Solicitor- 
 General declaring of the same words, the one, that they could not 
 be made clearer ; the other, that they were as clear as the sun at 
 noon day, though each gave a totally different interpretation of 
 them, were well ridiculed by Fox ; as a serious speech of Lord 
 Egmont was with much humour, and not a little indecence, by 
 Nugent. 
 
 " June L — The report was made of the Bill, and the house sat 
 till ten. On one clause only there was a division of 102 to 20. 
 
 " 2nd. — A new anti-ministerial paper appeared, called the Pro- 
 tester, supported at the expense of the Duke of Bedford and 
 Beckford, and written by Ralph, a dull author, originally a poet, 
 and satirized in the Dunciad : retained, after his pen had been re- 
 jected by Sir Robert Walpole, by Doddington and Waller ; but 
 much fitter to range the obscure ideas of the latter, than to dress 
 up the wit of the former : from them, he devolved to the Prince 
 of Wales in his second opposition, and laboured long in a paper 
 called the Remembrancer, which was more than once embolden- 
 ed, above the undertaker's pitch, by Lord Egmont and others. 
 Ralph's own turn seemed to be endeavouring to raise mobs by 
 speculative ideas of government; from whence his judgment at 
 least may be calculated. But he had the good fortune to be 
 bought off from his last journal, the Protestor, for the only paper 
 that he did not write in it. 
 
28 
 
 " 4tl). — The Marriage Bill was read tor the last time. Charles 
 Townshend again opposed it with as much argument as before 
 with wit. Mr. Fox, with still more wit, ridiculed it for an hour 
 and half. Notwithstanding the Chancellor's obstinacy in maintain- 
 ing it, and the care he had bestowed upon it, it was still so incor- 
 rect and so rigorous, that its very bodyguards had been forced to 
 make or to submit to many amendments : these were inserted in 
 Mr. Fox's copy in red ink : the Solicitor-General, who sat near him 
 as he was speaking, said, ' How bloody it looks !' Fox took this 
 up with spirit, and said, ' Yes, but you cannot say I did it; look 
 ichat a rent the learned Casca. made, (this alluded to the Attorney,) 
 through this the well-beloved JBrutus stabbed T (Mr. Pelham) — How- 
 ever, he finished with earnest declarations of not having designed 
 to abuse the Chancellor, and with affirming that it was scandalous 
 to pass the Bill, — but it was passed by 125 votes to 56. 
 
 " 6th. — The Bill being returned to the Lords, the amendments 
 were read. The Duke of Bedford, who began to attack the whole 
 Bill, vvas obstructed by the Chancellor, who would have confined him 
 to the mere amendments : but the Duke appecvling to the House 
 whether he might not argue against the face of the whole Bill as 
 it now stood, the Chancellor seemed to acquiesce ; but the Duke, 
 not finding any disposition to support him, soon dropped the cause; 
 objecting chiefly to the last clause on not extending the Act to 
 foreign countries. The Chancellor replied, that he was sorry the 
 clause was there ; but the Bill was too good to be lost, and might 
 have much good engrafted on it hereafter.^ Lord Sandys de- 
 clared that he would agree to all the amendments made by the 
 House of Commons, against any that should be offered by any 
 body else. An absurd declaration, founded on the design of pro- 
 roguing the Parliament on the morrow, which would leave no time 
 for returning the Bill to the Conmions ; and a plain indication of 
 the indigested maimer in which a law of such importance was 
 hurried on. On its being urged that several women could not 
 write, the Bishop of Oxford, with a sophistry that would have dis- 
 tinguished h m in any church, replied, that the clergyman might 
 write to himself, and give it to the woman, and she to him again, 
 for that the Bill did not say, that when she gave her consent in 
 writing, it must be of her own writing ! Lord Bath said, the op- 
 
 ' Yet no amendment was ever made in it, and all its clauses and faults sup- 
 ported by the utmost rigour ot tlic power of C1ihu( cry. 
 
29 
 
 position had proceeded from faction and party. The Duke of 
 Bedford replied, that his opposition had arisen from conscience, 
 that he had not troubled himself about what the House of Com- 
 mons did ; yet he had perceived that the Bill had been crammed 
 down both Houses. 
 
 '• At last rose the Chancellor — not, as he has been represented ' 
 in the figure of pitb/ic Wisdom speaking, but with all the acrimony 
 of wounded pride, of detected ambition, and insolent authorit}'. 
 He read his speech ; not that he had written it to guard himself 
 from indecency ; or that he had feared to forget his thread of ar- 
 gument in the heat of personality : he did not deign an argument, 
 he did not attempt to defend a Bill so criticized. He seemed only 
 to have methodized his malice, and noted down the passages where 
 he was to resent, where to threaten. He introduced himself with 
 just allowing conscience and candour to the Duke of Bedford ; but 
 what he had to complain of had passed without those walls, and in 
 another place. That, as to the young man, (Charles Townshend,) 
 youth and parts require beauty and riches, flesh and blood inspire 
 such thoughts, and therefore he excused him — but men of riper 
 years and graver had opposed; that the first, (the Speaker,) was 
 a good, well-meaning man, but had been abused by words — that 
 another (Fox,) dark, gloomy, and insidious genius, who was an 
 engine of personality and faction, had been making connexions, 
 and trying to form a party, but his designs had been seen through 
 and defeated. That in this country you must govern by force or 
 by law ; it was easy to know that person's principles, which were 
 to govern by arbitrary force. That the King speaks through the 
 Seals, and is represented by the Chancellor and the Judges in the 
 Courts, where the Majesty of the King resides; that such attacks 
 on the Chancellor and the law was flying in the face of the King; 
 that this behaviour was not liked ; that it had been taken up with 
 dignity,^ and that the incendiary had been properly reproved ; that 
 this was not the way to popularity or favour ; and that he could 
 take upon him to say, that person knows so by this time ; a beam 
 of light had broken in upon him ; but, (concluded he,) * I despise 
 his scurrility, as much as his adulation and retractation.' This 
 Philippic over, the Bill passed. Lord Granville, who had threatened 
 to oppose it, did not attend. 
 
 ' An expressiou of Lord Lyttelton on Lord Hardwicke. 
 " Meaning by his son Charles Yorke. 
 
30 
 
 " The prorogation of parliament prevented any farther open war. 
 Mr. Fox seemed wantonly and unnecessarily to have insulted the 
 Chancellor, and had even manifested some fear at having done so. 
 Indeed, he who had alwaj's been rash and resolute, now first dis- 
 covered some symptoms of irresolution ; and the time advanced 
 but too fast, when the provocation offered to Yorke, and the sus- 
 picion of his want of a determined spirit, were of essential detri- 
 ment to him. He could not but feel the Chancellor's haughty 
 scorn of the atonement he had offered ; yet, though he let slip 
 both sentences of resentment and indications of an ambition that 
 began to aspire higher, he soon yielded to a silent pacification. 
 Mr. Pelham affected to be rather ignorant of the heights to which 
 the rupture had openly been carried, and on the King's being told 
 that Mr. Fox's behaviour had been concerted with the Duke of Bed- 
 ford, Mr. Pelham protested to Fox, that he had assured the King 
 that the latter, on some proposal of union about elections from that 
 Duke, had refused any such connection while he should remain in 
 the King's service. For the storm between Fox and the Chan- 
 cellor, Mr. Pelham said it would blow over. ' Yet neither of 
 you,' said he to the former, will forgive.' Mr. Fox in return, who 
 gave no credit to this affected candour, reproached him in strong 
 terms with the Chancellor's (and, by necessary implication, with 
 the Duke of Newcastle's) treachery to Sir Robert Walpole. The 
 Duke's conversation on this occasion with Mr. Fox was remark- 
 able. ' The Chancellor meaned me,' said he, 'by arbitrary force.' 
 Mr. Fox thought not. ' Why,' said the Duke, ' do you think that 
 he imagines j'ou would govern by an army without me ?' ' Sir,' 
 said Fox, 'how will the King act on what has happened?' * The 
 King,' replied the Duke, ' would part with you, or even w ith me, 
 to satisfy them ; but if you can maintain yourself for six months, 
 he will like you the better for what has passed, for he thinks 
 you a man, and he knows none of the rest have the spirit of a 
 mouse.' Mr. Fox said, ' If they turn me out, I shall not acquit 
 Mr. Pelham, nor shall I spare him. Let him raise up Murray ; 
 Mr. Pelham knows he has betrayed him, but is willing to forget it. 
 I know he fears me still more ; he has often told me I w^as like 
 Mr. Pultney. It may be vanity, but if I am stronger than Murray, 
 I am ten times stronger than Mr. Pelham.' ' Mr. Pelham,' re- 
 plied the Duke, ' has neither candour, honour, nor sincerity. Fox, 
 how do you think I have been entertaining myself this morn- 
 
31 
 
 ing? It was poor pleasure, but I had no better. The Duke of 
 Neweastle asked me how I would have the warrant for Cranborn' 
 drawn. I thanked him, but heard Mr. Pelham was uneasy that I 
 had not thanked him; so to-day I met them together, and thanked 
 the Duke of Newcastle again, and only asked t'other when he 
 went to Esher.' The Duke concluded with advising Fox to speak to 
 the King, and not let him brood on it. ' He will talk on the Bill,' 
 said the Duke, ' let him : and you, who could not be convinced in 
 the house, be convinced by him.' The King was civil to Fox at his 
 next levee : afterwards in his closet, Mr. Fox beginning to say, 
 ' Sir, last Wednesday the Chancellor — .' The King interrupted, 
 ' Oh ! sir, I believe you had given him cause ; it is now pretty 
 even !' Mr. Fox said, ' Sir, I shall only beg to be heard as to 
 there being any faction or intrigue in my behaviour : I give you 
 my honour it is not true.' ' The moment you give me your honour,' 
 replied the King, ' 1 believe you ; but I must tell you, as I am 
 no lyar, that you have been much suspected.' He then repeated 
 to him accusations of such low cabalings, of balls given at Holland 
 House to the Duchess of Bedford, to which Mr. Pelham's daugh- 
 ters had not been invited, of persons who were disagreeable to the 
 Pelhams being invited ; in short, accusations of such feminine 
 and peevish trifles, that if Mr. Pelham was not the whisperer of 
 them, and the Chancellor was, the latter had certainly very tender 
 sensations, when they could extend themselves to the dancing 
 disgusts of his friend's wife and daughters ! Mr. Fox answered 
 these cursorily, disclaimed any political connections with the 
 Bedfords, and repeated with emphasis, ' Such intrigues, Sir, would 
 be worse in me, while in your service, than in any man living, 
 as nobody blamed such intrigues in those who undermined Sir 
 Robert Walpole so much as I.' This dialogue ended so well, 
 that Mr. Fox asked for a little place for one of his dejiendents, 
 and obtained it." 
 
 ' The King had just given Cranborn Lodge, in Windsor Forest, to the Duke. 
 
32 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FLEET PRISON, WARDENS, AND CHAPLAINS. 
 
 The Wardenship of the Fleet and the custody of the pri- 
 soners there, together with the custody of Westminster Hall, 
 appears to have been vested in fee in Nathaniel Leveland, of 
 Leveland in the county of Kent, in the reign of Richard I. 
 and to have been in his ancestors from the time of the 
 Conquest ; it continued in the descendants of this Nathaniel 
 Leveland until the 5 and 6 Phil, and Mary. It was used for 
 the reception of the prisoners committed by the Court of the 
 Star Chamber. By a patent of the 3rd Eliz. recited in letters 
 patent of the 19 Car. II. it appears to have been called Pri- 
 sona Je la Fleet, alias T/ie Queens Gaol of the Fleet. It is 
 said to have been called the Fleet from the Fleet Ditch ad- 
 joining, which was so called from the fleet or swift running 
 of the water.' 
 
 After the 16 Car. II. the prison was used as a place of 
 confinement for debtors and for persons guilty of contempts 
 of the Courts of Chancery, Exchequer, and Common Pleas, 
 and fell under the same regulations as other gaols of the 
 kingdom. Charles the Second having by letters patent 
 granted the office of Warden of the Fleet and of the Keeper 
 of the Old Palace at Westminster, the shops in Westminster 
 Hall, certain tenements adjoining to the Fleet, and other 
 rents and profits belonging to the Warden, to Sir Jeremy 
 Whichcot and his heirs for ever; he, in considerati(m of 
 such grant, rebuilt the prison at his own expense. 
 
 The prison and the custody of the prisoners being thus a 
 freehold, and falling by descent or purchase into the hands 
 of persons incapable of executing the office of Warden, was 
 the occasion of great abuses and frequent complaints to Par- 
 liament, till at length (.5th Anne,) the patent was set aside, 
 
 ' One of the significations given by Johnson to tlie word Fleet, is a creek — while 
 it has been snid to mean a shallow. 
 
33 
 
 and Baldwyn Lei<rl)t<)n, Esq. having been at great pains and 
 expense in suing the patentees to a forfeiture, obtained a 
 patent for life; and he dying soon afterwards, John Hug- 
 gins Esq. by giving £5000 to Lord Clarendon, obtained 
 through his Lordship's interest a grant of the office for his 
 own and his son's life. 
 
 Mr. Huggins* getting advanced in years, and his son not 
 wishing to take the office upon him, he was for some years 
 negotiating the disposal of it, and in August 1727 concluded 
 a final treaty with Thomas Bambridge and Dougal Cuth- 
 bert. Esquires, and for J05000 engaged with them to sur- 
 render his patent for his own and his son's life, and to procure 
 a new patent for Bambridge and Cuthbert, and which he 
 accordingly obtained.^ 
 
 In 1728 a Parliamentary Committee was appointed to en- 
 quire into the state of the prisons of the metropolis, who, 
 in their report in 1729, presented many grave charges against 
 Bambridge, in consequence of which an act passed to remove 
 him from his office, and render him incapable of ever holding 
 a place of profit under the Government, or of practising as an 
 attorney.^ 
 
 ' In May 1729 a true Bill was found against Mr. Huggins and his agent James 
 Barnes for the murder of Mr. Arne, a prisoner. 
 
 * Report of Committee. 
 
 3 Some verses in No. 84 of the Grub Street Journal have the following lines on 
 Bambridge : 
 
 " Find gaoler more and more uncivil, 
 And B ge nothing to the Devil." 
 
 In May 1729 he was tried for the murder of Mr. Robert Castell, a prisoner in 
 the Fleet, but acquitted for want of evidence. He died the 11th July 1741, at his 
 Chambers, No. 9 Paper Buildings, Temple. Mr.Castell was an architect, who died 
 in the Fleet on the 18th Dec. 1728, and, according to the newspapers of that period, 
 had just finished a translation of Vitruvius ; but the Author has been favoured with 
 the following note, by Joseph Gwilt, Es(i. the learned translator of the last Englisli 
 edition of the work of that celebrated architect. 
 
 Although the Bipont edition of Vitruvius, 8vo. {Argenloraii) 1708, gives as 
 published in 1730, the following among the English editions, 
 " 1730 The Architecture of M. Vitruvius I'oUio translated into English, with the 
 
 " Commentaries of Inigo Jones and otlieis, and the Latin text, by Robert Cas- 
 
 " tell, London, fob 2 vols." 
 such Book wras never published. The fact is, that Robert Castell in his ydlas of 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 About the niicldle of the year 1729 Mr. James Gambler 
 was appointed Warden upon the recommendation of Sir John 
 Eyles, Sir Gilbert Heathcoate, and other merchants of the 
 city. At the time of his appointment he was Solicitor to the 
 Trustees for the forfeited estates of the South Sea Directors. 
 
 WARDENS OF THE FLEET. 
 
 NATHANIEL DE LEVELAND. 
 ROBERT DE LEVELAND, his son. 
 
 These parties, in the 9th of Richard the First, (1198) fined in sixty 
 marks, to have the custody of the King's Houses at Westminster Sc 
 of the Flete Prison, which they stated had been their inheritance 
 ever since the Conquest. And that they might not be hindered 
 therein by the counter-fine of Osbert de Longchamp.' 
 
 And Osbert de Longshamp fined in D marks to have the King's 
 favour and seizin of all his lands and chattels whereof he was 
 disseized by the King's command. And to have seizin of the 
 custody of the Gaol of London, with the appurtenances, and of the 
 custody of the King's Houses at Westminster ; provided, that right 
 be done therein in the King's Court, according to the judgment 
 of the King's Court, in case any one would implead him for the 
 same.^ 
 
 SIMON FITZ-ROBERT, ARCHDEACON OF WELLS. 
 
 Stow, in his History of London, vol. i. p. 733, mentions that in tlie 
 Srd of John, (1202) the King granted the Wardenship of the Fleet 
 and tlie wardship of the daughter and heir of Robert Leveland to 
 S. Arclideacon of Wells. 
 
 the Antienls, wliich he published in 1728, and which was dedicated to Richard Earl 
 of Burlington, professes that he undertook that treatise as a yreparalive to a trans- 
 lation of Vitruvius into the English language ; a work he had long entertained a 
 desire of performing. This intention of Robert Castell was mentioned in the Acta 
 Erudit. Lipsiae, 1731 ; hence it is j>robal)le the mistake of the Bipont Editor. Cas- 
 tell, however, never fulfilled his intention, which was probably prevented by his 
 premature death. 
 
 ' RFadox Exthe<i. v. i. p. 514. ^ Mag. Rot. 10 R. I. Rot. 14, b. Kent. 
 
• 35 
 
 ROBERT DE LEVELAND— 1-206-1 2 15, 
 was Warden in the 7tli, 9tli, and 16th of King John, as appears 
 by the Close Rolls, pp. 34, 87, and 175.' 
 
 MARGARET, Widow of ROBERT DE LEVELAND— 
 1217-1222 
 Appears by the Close Rolls to have been Warden in the 2nd 
 Henry III. a Warrant to the Barons of the Exchequer being in 
 that year issued to make her the same payment per day for the 
 custody of the King's Houses at Westminster as Robert de Leve- 
 land her husband had while he lived. She is also mentioned in an- 
 other entry on the Rolls, in the 7th year of the same reign (1222). 
 
 GILES DE BADLESMERE to 1258. 
 
 This individual was a justice itinerant in the early part of King 
 Henry the Illd's reign, and married Margaret de Leveland, a de- 
 scendant of Robert de Leveland, who fined in 9th Richard I. and 
 probably his daughter, the wardship of whom was granted to S. 
 Archdeacon of Wells, as above mentioned. He married her with- 
 out the King's licence, and only obtained his pardon in 40th Henry 
 III. He was slain in a battle against the Welch, in 1258, and left 
 no issue by his wife.^ 
 
 FULCO LE PAYFORER to 1277, 
 
 was Warden in right of his wife Margaret, widow of Giles de 
 Badlesmere. He survived his said wife, by whom he had no 
 issue, and died 5th Edward I. ; by the Inquisition taken upon his 
 death,3 the jurors found that he held <' de haereditate Margeriaj 
 Uxoris su8e defunctaj secundum Legem Anglise Serjauntiam cus- 
 todiae palatii domini Regis Westminster et liberae prisona; de 
 Flete tanquam de haereditate predicta? Margeriae per legem An- 
 gliae," and that Ralph de Leveland was the heir of Margery. 
 
 RALPH DE GRENDON DE LYVELAUND (Leveland)— 
 
 1277 to 1280. 
 
 (So called from the manor of Levelond, in Kent, which he held of 
 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, in capite,) succeeded Le Payforer. 
 
 ' Close Rolls, vol. i. fol. 1834, Accurante Tho. Duffus Hardy, S.A.S. 
 * Philipot's Villaie Cantianum, p. 216. 
 ^ Inq. p. m. Fulconis le Payfoicr, 5th Edward I, No. 17. 
 
 d2 
 
36 
 
 He took £18. 5s. 8(f. of the King's money by the hands of the 
 Sheriff of London for the custody of the Prison, and of the King's 
 manor of Westminster, and for repairing Fleet Bridge when ne- 
 cessary. He died 8th Edward I. (1280) and by the Inquisition 
 on his death,' the jurors found that Stephen de Leveland, his 
 brother, then aged thirty, was his heir. 
 
 STEPHEN DE LEVELAND— 1280 to 1287, 
 
 succeeded his brother in the Wardenship, and died 15th Edward L 
 By the Inquisition on his death the jurors found that Joane his 
 daughter was his heir, and that she was nine years old at the feast 
 of John the Baptist then last past. It appears by the Close Roll, 
 24th Edward I. that the marriage of this Joane de Leveland was by 
 the King granted to Elianor, his royal consort, who subsequently 
 granted the marriage of the said Joane to Martin Senche, who 
 married her to his brother John Sench ; and because the said 
 Martin did not produce the Queen's letters granting the marriage 
 of the said Joane, the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer 
 had taken into their own hands the Serjeancy of the Fleet, which 
 long had been granted " ut jus et ha^reditas" of the said Joane, 
 upon proof being made of her age, whereupon the King, being satis- 
 fied that his royal consort had so disposed of the marriage of the 
 said Joane, by his writ (20th January, 24th Edward I. 1295) com- 
 manded them, if it was seized for no other reason, to restore the 
 said Seijeancy, to be held by them as it was before the caption 
 thereof, with the proceeds thereof, Szc. 
 
 JOHN SHENCHE 
 
 became Warden by his marriage as above mentioned with Joan de 
 Leveland. He died in the lifetime of his wife, leaving issue by 
 her a son, named John. 
 
 EDMUND LE CHEYNE. 
 
 Upon the death of John Shenche, Joane his widow married Ed- 
 nmnd le Cheyne, who thereupon became Warden in right of his 
 wife. She died in 6th Edward IIL (1333).^ He continued Warden 
 until his death in 1340. 
 
 ' liKj. p. 111. Kail: de Levelaiul, (iili Kilward I, \o. 16. 
 ' I III]. J). 111. .tiuiiiiKv S. (itii lulu aril III, No. (S5. 
 
37 
 
 By the Inquisition on his deatli,' the jurors found that he 
 held as of the lieritage of Joane formerly his wife, daughter and 
 heir of Stephen de Levelonde, a messuage, &c., called the Prison 
 of the Flete, held upon Serjeancy of keeping the prisoners and 
 repairing the Fleet Bridge ; also that a certain John, son of Jolni 
 Shenche and the aforesaid Joane (whom the said John Shenche 
 married), was the next heir of Joane, and that he was aged thirty. 
 
 JOHN SHENCHE 
 
 took the Wardenship as the son of Joane de Levelonde, by her 
 first husband John Shenche. He died 23rd Edward HI. (1350)^ 
 leaving a daughter Margaret, then two years old. 
 
 ROGER DE SAPURTON— 1370 to 1412. 
 
 Margaret Shenche being under age, the Wardenship was granted 
 43rd Edward III , to Roger de Sapurton, her cousin and heir. She 
 died shortly afterwards, when he proved his age, and had livery 
 of his lands in London and Derby, and did homage for the same. 
 This Roger de Sapurton married Ellen, daughter of Robert Agas, 
 of Waltham,3 and died in 1412. The Inquisition on his death, 
 states that John Sapurton was his heir, who was then aged thirty 
 and upwards. 
 
 JOHN DE SAPURTON— 1412 to 1414, 
 
 Son of the above by Ellen his wife, succeeded his father. He 
 died on the 15th of March 1414, and by the Inquisition taken on 
 his death, the jurors found that Roger de Sapurton was his brother 
 and next heir, and was then aged thirty-six and upwards.'* 
 
 * Inq. p. m, Edmundi Cheyne, 13th Edward III, No. 19. 
 
 * Inq. p. m. 23rd Edward III. 
 
 ' Inq. p. m. Rog. de Sapurton, 13th Henry IV, No. 35. 
 
 * Inq. p. m. Joh, de Sapurton, 2nd Henry V, No. 21. This Inquisition details 
 the profits and perquisites of the Warden as follows: — Dicunt etiam dicti Jur' 
 quod praedicta Mes' et officium tenentur de domino Rege in capite, videlicet per 
 officium custodiendi dictum palacium capiendo de eodem domino Rege per manus 
 A'ic' London* pro tempore existentium per diem vi'^. et etiam percipiendo et 
 habendo cum dominus Rex fuerit apud Westmonasterium infra clausum dicti 
 palaci] quolibet die quamdiu dominus Rex manserit in pane vino et servicia 
 fercul' coquine et candelis sicut unus servientum Regis percipit, capiendo etiaiii et 
 habendo in quolibet recessu ipslus Regis a dicto palacio quicquid remanserit in 
 eodem palatio de focali litera in cameris et feno in stabulo, acctiam capiendo et 
 
38 
 
 ROGER DE SAPURTON— 1414 to 1434, 
 
 Brother of the abovenamed John, was the next inheritor. Upon 
 liis death, on the 7th June 1434,' his next heir was by Inquisition 
 found to be his daughter Ehzabeth, wife of William Venour, then 
 aged thirteen years and upwards. 
 
 WILLIAM VENOUR— 1434, 
 
 in right of his wife, late Elizabeth Sapurton. He died in 
 
 the lifetime of his wife, and the Wardenship of the Fleet, with 
 the custody of Westminster Hall, was, in 1467, conveyed by her 
 to trustees, with special limitations to her heirs, and the heirs of 
 Robert Babyngton, as appears by the Patent Roll of 6th Edward 
 IV. No. 18. 
 
 RICHARD BABYNGTON, Esq. to 1492, 
 
 died seized of the W^ardenship in 1492, leaving his brother Edward, 
 aged twenty -five, his next heir. (Esc. 9th Henry VII. p. 1, n. 
 133, V. 0.) 
 
 EDW^ARD BABYNGTON— 1492 to 1498, 
 
 died seized on the 30th June, 1498, leaving his brother William, 
 aged twenty-two, his next heir. (Esc. 13th Henry VII. No. 29.) 
 
 WILLIAM BABYNGTON— 1498 to 1537. 
 
 He appears to have executed the office in person, as in 16th 
 Henry VIII. he received the King's pardon for killing one Robert 
 W^olfe alias Vulpe, during the Christmas revels, in the Fleet Prison. 
 
 habendo quando Rex reparari faciei domos infra clausum dicti palacij -totum vetus 
 maeremium cooperiones novi raaeremij veteres cendulas et funes. Capiendo etiam 
 et habendo de quolibet mercatore tenente vel occupante stallum vel stabulum in 
 fjuibuscumque locis infra palacium piaedictura quolibet quarteiio anni xii**. et 
 qualibet septimana sedente curia Regis Ij**. et de quolibet mercatore stallum vel 
 stabulum non habente vel occupante et mercandisas ibidem portante quolibet quar- 
 terio anni 4''. et valet pricdictum nusuagiuiii cum proficuis custodia' prxxlicta' per 
 annum in omnibus exitibus ultra rcprisas XIO. Et dicunt Jur' quod idem .lolianncs 
 de Sapuitoii' obijt 14° die Marcij ultimo pra^tciito ct quod Rogeius dc Sapurton 
 esl fiatcr et liajres ejus propintiuior ct est aHaiis 36 annoruni et amplius. 
 ' Inq. p. m. Roger de Sapuilon 12th Henry VI. No. 19. 
 
39 
 
 Wolfe was exercising liis office of Master of Misrule, and some 
 disturbance arising, Babyngton stabbed liini in the belly with a 
 double-edged dagger. 
 
 THOMAS BABYNGTON, Esq. 1537 to 
 
 had livery by patent 29th Henry VHI. p. 3, as son and heir of the 
 abovenanied William. By patent (4 and 5 Philip and Mary, p. 11, 
 June 6,) licence was granted to this Thomas Babyngton and Wil- 
 liam his son, to alienate to John Heath, of London, Esq. and on 
 the 9th July (5 and 6 P. and M.) the Wardenship was conveyed to 
 Heath accordingly, in consideration of £2300. Claus. 5 and (» 
 Phil, and Mar. p. 1. 
 
 JOHN HEATH, Esq.' 1558. 
 
 Heath sold, in the 1st of Elizabeth, to Richard Tyrell, of Ashdon, 
 in the county of Essex, Esq. in consideration of 6000 marks, to 
 be paid by instalments. 
 
 RICHARD TYRRELL— 1358 to 1566. 
 He died 17 June (8th Elizabeth), leaving Edward Tyrrell, his son 
 and next heir, aged 8 years. Richard Tyrrell appears on the 10th 
 of March, previous to his death, to have granted a lease to his bro- 
 ther Henry Tyrrell for 15 years, at the yearly rent of £80. 
 
 EDWARD TYRRELL. Esq. — 1566-1594. 
 Edward Tyrrell appears to have granted a lease, dated lOtli No- 
 vember, (23 EHz.) to Robert Bacon for 21 years, for the better 
 maintenance of his wife if she should happen to survive him. 
 He died 26 February, 36th Eliz. (1594), leaving Robert, his son 
 andjaasJLheir, aged 13. ' , , 
 
 ( ^In 158 6jXhe prisoners in the Fleet petitioned the Lords of the 
 Council, in consequence of the Warden having underlet to John 
 Harvey and Thomas Newport, who were guilty of cruelty and 
 extortion ; and in that year a commission issued, which was ab- 
 breviated and explained by the Recorder Fleetwood. (ln_1593^ 
 the prisoners preferred a Bill in Parliament for the reformation of 
 the Fleet, which Joachim Newton, the Deputy Warden, did all 
 he could to hinder.* The result of this Bill was an Enquiry, which 
 led to a presentment, of which the following is a copy. 
 
 ^Buried at St. Giles's, Durham, (Register of St. Bride's, Fleet Street.) \^^ 
 
 ^^^-Slflw's London, vol i. p. 733. /? jj 
 
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41 
 
 " 1. First, that it maye be lawfull for the said warden or his 
 deputie to appoynte so nianye of his houshold s'vaunts as to 
 either of them shall seeme good, to open or shutt the two utter 
 gates of the Fleete, at suche houres as the gates of Ludgate and 
 Newgate are accustomed to be opened and shutt, and the said 
 p'sons carry in their handes halberts, billes, or anye other wea- 
 pons as shall seeme goode unto the said warden or deputie, w"'in 
 his precyncte or lib'tye. 
 
 " 2. Item. — The warden to take such bondes of ev'y p'son that 
 shalbe brought into the Fleet prisoner as shall seeme to him 
 reasonable, at his discrec'on, and accordinge as the cause shall 
 require, aswell for the payment of all manner of duties, as also 
 to be true prisoners there, and of good behaviour towardes the 
 saide warden, and all others w"'in the precincte of the Fleete, in 
 suche manner and forme as heretofore hath bene used. 
 
 " 3. Item. — That it is and shalbe lawfull for the said warden and 
 his deputie to take order from tyme to tyme that no p'son com'inge 
 in there do carrye any weapon further then the porters lodge there, 
 be he straunger or other, unles they shalbe licenced so to do by 
 the discrec'on of suche as the same warden shall appointe to keepe 
 the gates there. 
 
 " 4. Item. — That no pryson' shall buy beare, ale, wyne or any 
 other victualls out of the saide house as longe as they maye there 
 have sufficient and good provided w"'in the same, in suche place as 
 shalbe there appoynted, at such reasonable pryces as the same 
 be com'onlie solde for w*in the cittye of London, except the 
 warden shall geve licence for any considerac'on as to him shall 
 seeme good. 
 
 " 5. Item. — That it male be lawfull for the warden to take of 
 every such pryson' as the saide warden maye lawfuUye licence to 
 goe abroade w*'' his keep' for the halfe daie, that is to saye, before 
 dynner or after, to the wardens box iiij'' ; and for the whole daie, 
 both before dynner and supper, viij"^ : and for his keep' that shalbe 
 w"* him, for the half daie, vj** ; and for the whole daie, xij''. 
 
 " 6. Item. — And if it should happen the Queenes Majesty and 
 her honorable housholde to be above two myles distant from 
 the cittie of London and Westm' or either of them, and that 
 anye prisoner shalbe sent for by the Counsell or anye other 
 havinge aucthoritye to com'aunde the saide prisoner to be brought 
 before them, that then the said prisoner shall beare al manner 
 
42 
 
 of suche charges as shall thereunto apperteyne, be it either by 
 water or by lande, until! his retorne, aswell for himselfe or anye 
 other that shalbe appoynted his keep' for the tyme. 
 
 " 7. Item. — That the saide warden, by himselfe or his deputye, 
 shall and maie take and carrie downe w"' him into the countrey 
 anye suche prisoner as he maie lawfully licence to goe abroade 
 w"" his keep', at any tyme betwixte the termes, excepte there 
 shalbe expresse com'aundement to the contrarie by the Counsaile 
 or suche as shall com'ytt the p'yte thither. 
 
 " 8. Item. — That it maye be lawfuU for the saide warden or 
 his deputie, and so manye of his houshold as shalbe thought 
 needefull, to keepe watche in harnes or otherwise w"'in his pre- 
 cincte, at all tymes, as he shall see cause, for his better save- 
 garde, if he shall suspecte anye prisoner w*''in his custodie to 
 intende to make an escape. 
 
 " 9. Item. — That it maie be lawfuU to and for the saide warden 
 to take order at all tymes for suche money as shalbe gathered 
 at the boxe, or otherwyse generally geven to poore men there, 
 for the distribuc'on thereof amongest them, if any contenc'on shall 
 arise ; and that the saide poore shall alwaies keepe one key of the 
 said boxe, and another key to be at the wardens appoyntment. 
 
 " 10. Item. — That it maie and shalbe lawful for the warden, 
 if there shall at any tyme happen any person to be com'itted 
 that shall not be able to maynteyne nether the parlour com'ons 
 nor the hall com'ons, nor also will take p'te of the boxe, that 
 then the warden maie appointe a bedd and chamber for any suche 
 convenyentlye, the p'tye agreeinge w*"" the warden for the same 
 at his reasonable discrec'on. 
 
 " 11. Item. — That yf anye that will take p'te of the boxe will 
 have anye more ease then for the same is appoynted, that then it 
 maie be lawfull for the warden to appoynte any suche p'son or 
 p'sons a bedd or chamber, the p'tie agreeinge w"' the warden for 
 the same as shalbe thought reasonable. 
 
 " 12. Item. — That the said warden shall take of every man or 
 woman that shall sitt at the parlour com'ons ij' iiij'' weeklye for 
 his bedd and chamber, and of every man and woman that shall 
 sitt at the hall com'ons xiiij'' weekly for his bedd and chamber, 
 lyinge like prisoners, two in a bedd together. 
 
 " 13. Item. — Whereas by an auncyent custonii', tynic out of 
 memoric of man used in the said I'lectc, the warden or his 
 
depiitie for tlic tyme being have used and dyd lycencc such 
 p'sons as be prisoners there, not beinge anyc condenipnac'on, or by 
 expresse com'aundement gyven to the contrarie by the Counsell 
 or suche p'sons as do com'ytte the said prisoners thither, to goe 
 abroade aboute theire necessarie busynes, or to their lerned coun- 
 sell, or suche like affaires, w"* a keep' ; Therefore it is and shalbe 
 lawfull to the same warden and his deputie for the tyme being to 
 lycence and p'mytte all suche p'sons as be there to go abroade 
 w**" a safe keep' about his or theire nedefuU busynes aforesaid ; 
 So alwaies that anie suche prisoner do not lye there uppon anye 
 condenipnac'on, or that express com'aundement by the Queenes 
 Ma*' Counsaile, or suche p'sons as doe com'ytte the same prisoner 
 thither, be geven or inhibited to the contrarie thereof. 
 
 " Will'm Petre, Edwarde Saunders, 
 
 *' Rob'te Catlyn, Thomas Seckford, 
 
 " Will'm Cordell, G. Gerrard, 
 
 " James Dyer, Rob'te Newell. 
 
 " Scene and allowed accordinge to the original!, 
 
 " John Puckeringe, 
 
 " Will'm Burleigh." 
 
 JOACHIM NEWTON,' 1594. 
 He had been Deputy Warden to the before-mentioned Edward 
 Tyrrell, and obtained from him, by purchase, a lease of the War- 
 denship for seven years, and afterwards a further demise. A Bill 
 in Chancery filed by him in October 1594, states that he had in- 
 terested Kath^ Mason, formerly " waiting woman on the Wife of 
 the s^ Edw'' Tyrrell, having credit with her said Master and 
 Mistress" to further his application for this lease. (Chancery 
 Proceedings temp. Eliz. N. n. 5. No. 27.) 
 
 SIR ROBERT TYRRELL, Knight— 1594-1612. 
 
 Sir Robert Tyrrell sold (9 Jac.) to Sir Henry Lello of London, 
 Knt., and John Eldred, Esq. in consideration of £11,000. 
 
 SIR HENRY LELLO, Knight, and JOHN ELDRED, Esq. 
 
 1612 to 
 
 By the will of Sir Henry Lcllo, of Ashdon, county Essex, dated 
 
 > Query, if not from 1588? 
 
44 
 
 the 7th January 1629, he directs that in case he should die in 
 London he should be buried at St. Bride's London, where his pre- 
 decessors, Wardens of the Fleet, have been buried ; he recites 
 that he and John Eldred purchased the Fleet and keeping of the 
 palace of Westminster jointly to them and their heirs, since which 
 the said John for the consideration of £8000 had released his title 
 to the said office, &'C. ; bequeaths to his nephew Henry Hopkins, 
 all his manor or capital messuage called the Fleet, otherwise the 
 King^s_Gapl __o,f .the,Ele.et, with the office of Warden of the Fleet, 
 with all profits, &c. and also the keeping of the palace of West- 
 minster called the Old and New Palace, with all profits &c. arising 
 from shops and stalls in Westminster Hall, and without &c. with 
 all right &c. in as ample manner as he and said Mr. Eldred pur- 
 chased the same of Sir John Terrell, Knt. — Proved 18 January, 
 1629-30. Buried at St. Bride's, 16 Jan. 1630. 
 
 HENRY HOPKINS, Esq.' 
 
 EDWARD HOPKINS, Esq. 
 
 the brother of Henry Hopkins named in Sir Henry Lello's will, 
 in consideration of £4500, conveyed to Jeremy Whichcott, Esq. of 
 the Temple, subject to a proviso contained in an indenture of the 
 same date, and enrolled in Chancery, (Claus. 1655, p. 35, n. 27,) 
 that in case Hopkins survived Whichcott, and paid to his execu- 
 tors the sum of £4500 ; or in case Whichcott survived Hopkins, 
 and neglected to pay to Hopkins' executors the sum of £4500, 
 the deed to be void. Covenant to pay Hopkins a moiety of the 
 profits during their joint lives. 
 
 SIR JEREMY WHICHCOTT— 1655 to 
 
 Jeremy Whichcott, Esq. Barrister-at-Law and Solicitor-General to 
 the Prince Elector Palatine. At the request of King Charles II. 
 during his exile, he purchased the Wardenship, and by officiating 
 sometimes himself, sheltered the King's agents, and prevented a 
 treacherous design against his person, for which he was honoured 
 with the title of Baronet, by patent, dated at Brussels, 2d April, 
 12th Charles II. 1660. He died 22d June 1677, and lies buried 
 in Ilendon church,* 
 
 In the 19th of Charles II. a patent was granted whereby, after 
 
 ' BuiiLd al St. Bride's, 5 Jan. 1654. 
 
 2 Collins' Baronetage, (1711,) vol. in. [>. 12. 
 
45 
 
 reciting a commission of the 3(1 Elizabeth, and setting forth the 
 constitutions and orders newly made, together with the petition 
 of the Warden and prisoners to Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper, 
 and also a table of fees, and also reciting that the prison was burnt 
 on the 4th of September last, and that Sir Jeremiah Whichcott, 
 the Warden, had purchased with his own money, a capital mes- 
 suage called Caroon House, and ten acres of land in South Lam- 
 beth,' for the safe keeping of the prisoners; the King appointed 
 Caroon House to be the prison of the Fleet (Pat. 19 Car. H. 
 p. l,n.9.) 
 
 By a decree inrolled in Chancery, it appears that Sir Jeremy 
 Whichcott, Bart, by indenture dated the 24th February, (23 
 Car. H.) granted the office to William Oakes for four lives, in 
 trust for the said Oakes and one Edward Peirce, who sold the 
 office of Clerk of the Fleet to William Meakin during their lives. 
 Oakes afterwards assigned the office to Hugh Pyers, who surren- 
 dered (25 Car. H.) to Whichcott, and Whichcott delivered the 
 office over to one William Duckenfeild, who during Meakin's ab- 
 sence attending the Seal at the Court of Chancery, broke open 
 his office and desk and dispossessed him. Meakin thereupon filed 
 his Bill, and obtained a decree. (Rot. Judic. 2 Div. p. 388, n. 21, 
 26 Car. IL) 
 
 RICHARD MANLOVE— 1689-1691.^ 
 
 WILLIAM WEEDON FORD, Esq.— 1699-1707. 
 
 ANTHONY GRIND ALL, Esq.— 1708-1710.3 
 
 ' By the proceedings against Richard Manlove during his Wardenship, it appears 
 that Sir Jeremy Whichcott had, without licence, removed the prison, to the old prison 
 called the Fleet, and that he and his son, Sir Paul Whichcott, had sold Caroon 
 House. 
 
 * In the 7 and 8 William III. an act was passed relating to the King's Bench 
 and Fleet Prisons, which directed that before the 24th June, 1697, all grants, con- 
 veyances, and mortgages of the inheritance of the Fleet Prison, and all leases 
 thereof, and the title of the W^arden thereto, should be enrolled in the Common 
 Pleas, as well also all future grants, &c. The act provided for the right of Anthony 
 Smith, mariner, to the office of W^arden, by virtue of two decrees in Chancery, 
 dated 22d June, 1683, and 26th January, 1685, whereby £425 was decreed to be 
 paid to him out of the said office (after a mortgage thereof made by Thomas Brom- 
 hall to Henry Norwood, Esq. dated 23d Nov. 1676.) Also for the right of John 
 Clements, of the Middle Temple, Gent, concerning a debt of ^^2299 and interest, 
 secured by a mortgage thereof, dated 3d May 1678. 
 
 ^ " Anthony Grindall, Warden, and Robert Saunders, Register of the Marriages, 
 appear to have been guilty of forging books which, when produced to a committee 
 of the Commons, proved to be so ; besides, they were destitute of every particular 
 which makes a register valuable." — Malcolm's Lond. vol. i. 375. 
 
46 
 
 BALDWYN LEKiHTON, Esq. (sometimes called Col. Leighton.) 
 
 The Wardenship falling into the hands of huproper persons, a 
 commission under tlie Great Seal, dated 21 May, 10 Wil. III. was 
 issued, and an Inquisition was returned into Chancery, whereupon, 
 by the judgment of the Court of King's Bench, the office of War- 
 den of the Fleet was seized into the King's hands.' All these 
 proceedings having been prosecuted by Col. Leighton at a great 
 expense, a grant was made to him (by patent 5 Anne, p. 1, 
 n. 22, March 7,) of the office of Warden, to hold, by himself or 
 deputy, for life. He was not, however, to enter upon the office 
 until certain claims, incumbrances, &c. were settled, and he was 
 to give security, to be approved of by the Lord Keeper, the Chief 
 Justice of the Common Pleas, and Chief Baron of the Exchequer.^ 
 
 JOHN HUGGINS, Esq.^ 
 
 By patent of 12 Anne, p. 4, n. 3, the Wardenship was granted on 
 the decease of Leighton to John Huggins, the elder, Esq. High 
 Bailiff of Westminster, for life, and the reversion of it to John 
 Huggins the younger. Mr. Huggins disposed of it as mentioned 
 in the preceding part of this chapter. 
 
 In Willis's Reports, p. 241, is a case, John Huggins v. Thomas 
 Bambridge. It was debt on bond, dated 28th September 1728, 
 conditioned for payment of £2300 and interest. The defendant 
 pleaded letters patent of 22d July, 12 Anne, whereby the War- 
 denship was granted to plaintiff for life, and after his death or 
 surrender to plaintiff's son (John Huggins) for life ; that plaintiff and 
 his son, by deed (enrolled of 14th August, 2 George II.) surren- 
 
 ' The King and Queen v. iManlove, Warden of the Fleet (3 Levinz Rep. 288.) 
 In Chancery, Michas. 2 William and INIary. 
 
 It was found by Inquisition on a writ issued out of Chancery, that the Wardenship 
 of the Fleet was an ancient office ; that, on the 19th March 1689, Richard IMan- 
 love was Warden ; that he had committed several misdemeanours, and one Colonel 
 Leighton sought a forfeiture, and to have a grant of the office to himself, from 
 the King — that as Manlove had only an estate for life, and the fee was in 
 another, the Lord Keeper decided the forfeiture went to him in reversion and not 
 to the Crown. 
 
 * " Octr. 1718 — Died Mr. John Stone, Deputy Warden of the Fleet, a person 
 of great humanity to tlie prisoners." 
 
 ' Mr. William Huggins, his son, was married in 1723, in Windsor Chapel, to 
 Mrs. Tylson. 
 
47 
 
 dered the said office, and thereupon defendant executed tlie bond. 
 That the King, on the 30th September following, by letters patent, 
 granted the said office to defendant for life, and afterwards to 
 Dougall Cuthbert for life. 
 
 Judgment given for defendant, on the ground that the office was 
 one concerning the execution of justice, and the sale of it was 
 therefore void, by 5 and 6 Edward VI. cap. 16, the fee being in the 
 Crown. It would thus appear that Mr. Huggins lost his money. 
 
 THOMAS BAMBRIDGE and DOUGAL CUTHBERT, Esq. 
 
 These parties came into possession in the manner before stated. 
 In May 1729 Bambridge was tried for the murder of Mr. Robert 
 Castell, a prisoner in the Fleet, but acquitted for want of evi- 
 dence. " He was removed from the Wardenship by Act of Par- 
 liament, and died the 11th July 1741, at his chambers, No. 9, 
 Paper Buildings, Temple." 
 
 JAMES GAMBIER— 1729-May 1735. 
 Appointed in 1729, vice Bambridge. 
 
 CARBONNELL, (a Deputy Wadren only)— 1734. 
 
 JOHN GARTH, Esq.— 1736-1740. 
 
 Appointed on the surrender of Cuthbert and Gambier. Mr. Daniel 
 Hopkins, his Deputy. 
 
 JOHN EYLES, Esq.— 1740-1758. 
 
 JOHN EYLES, Esq.'— 1758-1820. 
 
 Son of the preceding. Nicholas Nixon, many years Deputy and 
 Clerk of the Papers. Robert Hiller, Deputy Keeper of West- 
 minster Hall, appointed 2d May, 1807. 
 
 NICHOLAS NIXON, Esq.— 1821-1822. 
 WILLIAM ROBERT HENRY BROWN, Esq.— 1822. 
 The present Warden. William Brown, Deputy and Clerk of the 
 Papers. 
 
 > Patent dated 32 Geo. II. 
 In several of the novels written about tiie middle of the last century, the Fleet 
 was chosen for the scenes described. 
 
48 
 
 CHAPLAINS OF THE FLEET PRISON. 
 
 The destruction of all papers and documents at the Fleet 
 at the time of the riots in 1780, has precluded the Editor 
 from obtaining much information respecting the Chaplains to 
 the Prison.' 
 
 The earliest name which occurs of a Chaplain is that 
 of Mr. Haincks in 1698, who is noticed in the Register of 
 Lincoln^'s Inn Chapel. The next is Robert Elborough, who, 
 in the letter of 1702 before quoted, is called the " Master of 
 the Chapel," but the same letter mentions other ministers. 
 
 In 1714 Mr. John Taylor was Chaplain, and received a 
 salary as such, but he does not appear to have solemnized 
 matrimony at the Fleet. 
 
 In 1728 Dr. Franks, Dean of Bedford, was officiating 
 Chaplain, and was allow^ed forty guineas a-year, and forty 
 guineas a-year more, when there was a real Chaplain. 
 
 In the Report of the Parliamentary Committee in 1729, is 
 a Table of Fees ordered by the Judges to be paid by the 
 prisoners of the Fleet, from which the following is extracted : 
 
 " That there is due to the Minister who officiates and performs 
 divine service within the said prison for the time being, from every 
 prisoner within the walls of the said prison, or without the walls, 
 or within the Rules, four-pence per week, to be paid to the War- 
 den for the use of such Minister ; and that no such Minister or 
 any other Clergyman, being a Prisoner within the Walls or Rules 
 of the Fleet, do presume to marry any person without License 
 within the Prison or Rules of the Fleet; and that the Warden 
 and his Officers do use their utmost vigilance to prevent all such 
 marriages." 
 
 to 1797. Rev. Weldon Champneys, held the office 
 
 about 20 years, 
 
 1797-1815. Rev. John Manley Wood. 
 
 1815. Rev. John Jones, was Chajdain for a few months. 
 
 Rev. Richard Edwards, M. A. who is the present Chaplain. 
 
 ' It has been the custom of the Warden upon a vacancy, to offer the Cliaplain- 
 cy to the Curate of St. ]5rides. 
 
49 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CLERGYMEN WHO PERFORMED MARRIAGES AT THE FLEET. 
 
 JOHN GAYNAM, from about 1709 to 1740. 
 
 This man, famed for the number of his marriages, and 
 rivalled for notoriety of character, appears to have been 
 styled "Doctor Gaynam," and resided some time in Bride Lane. 
 The following evidence given at the Old Bailey on the trial 
 of Robert Hussey in 1733, for bigamy, will give some idea of 
 his character and pretensions : 
 
 Dr. Gainham. — The 9th of September 1733, I married a couple 
 at the Rainbow Coffee House the corner of Fleet Ditch, and en- 
 tered the marriage in my register, as fair a register as any church 
 in England can produce. I showed it last night to the foreman 
 of the jury, and my Lord Mayor's Clerk, at the I^ondon Punch 
 House. 
 
 Counsel. — Are you not ashamed to come and own a clandestine 
 marriage in the face of a Court of Justice? 
 
 Dr. Gainhaoi. — (bowing) Video meliora, deteriora sequor. 
 
 Q. — You are on your oath, I ask you whether you never enter 
 marriages in that book when there's no marriage at all ? 
 
 Gainham. — I never did in my life. I page my book so, that it 
 cannot be altered. 
 
 From the trial of Edmund Dangerfield, for bigamy, in 
 1736, the following is extracted. 
 
 Dr. Gainham. — 1 don't know the prisoner. I did marry a man 
 and woman of these names. Here, this is a true register : " Edmd. 
 Dangerfield of St. Mary Newington Butts, Batchelor, to Arabella 
 Fast." When I marry at any house I always set it down, for I 
 carry one of the books in my pocket, and when I go home I put 
 it in my great book. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 Court. — Do you never make any alteration ? 
 
 Gainham. — Never, my Lord. These two were married at Mrs. 
 Ball's, at the Hand and Pen, by the Fleet Prison, and my name is 
 to her book. 
 
 Counsel. — 'Tis strange you should not remember the prisoner. 
 
 Gainham. — Can I remember persons? I have married 2000 
 since that time. 
 
 The prisoners defence. — " Arabella Fast said to me, ' There is a 
 minister, (naming his name,) who often lies with me, and if you'll 
 say you are my husband we may get some money out of him.' I 
 took a room for her, within a fortnight after; she told me the par- 
 son was come to London and now was the time to make him our 
 prize; ' Come into our room (says she) about 10 o'clock at night' — 
 I did, and found Arabella and he a-bed. ' Hey ! (says I,) how 
 came you a-bed with my spouse ?' ' Sir, (says he,) I only lay with 
 her to keep my back warm.' In the morning the gentle- 
 man said, ' I must make you a present if you can produce a certi- 
 ficate.' I knew not what to say. ' Sir, (says Arabella,) we were 
 married at the Fleet,' and says she to me, ' For a crown I can 
 get a certificate from the Fleet.' I gave her a crown, and in 
 half an hour she brings me a certificate." — The Prisoner was 
 acquitted. 
 
 It was Gaynam who was named " The Bishop of Hell," and 
 who is alluded to in the following examination at the trial of 
 Ruth Woodward, in 1737, for bigamy : 
 
 John Hall. — I saw her married at the Fleet to Robert Holmes ; 
 'twas at the Hand and Pen, a barber's shop. 
 
 Counsel. — And is it not a wedding-shop too ? 
 
 Hall. — Yes, I don't know the parson's name, but 'twas a man 
 that once belonged to Creed Church — a very lusty, jolly man. 
 
 Counsel. — Because there's a complaint lodged in a proper court, 
 against a Fleet parson, whom they cull The Bishop of Hell. 
 
 Among some loose papers, with the Fleet Registers, the 
 author has lately discovered a few leaves of a memorandum- 
 book, on one of which arc the following lines, which con- 
 firm his impression, that Gaynam was the Diocesan of the 
 Fleet:— 
 
51 
 " THE FLEET PARSON; 
 
 A TALE, 
 
 By Anti Matrim of London. 
 
 Some errant Wags, as stories tell, 
 Assert the gloomy prince of Hell 
 In th' infernal Region has 
 His Officers of all degrees 
 Whose business is to propagate 
 On Earth, the interest of his State. 
 Ecclesiastics too are thought 
 To be subservient to him brought 
 And as their zeal his service prize 
 He never fails to make them rise 
 As Dignitaries in his Church 
 But often leaves them in the lurch; 
 For if their Fear surmount their zeal 
 [They] quickly his resentment feel 
 [Are] sure to meet with dire disgrace 
 [And] warmer Zealots fill their place 
 [To] make these Vacancies repleat 
 
 He borrows F ns from the Fleet. 
 
 Long has old G m with applause 
 
 Obeyed his Master's cursed Laws 
 Readily practis'd every Vice 
 And equall'd e'en the Devil for device 
 His faithful Services such favour gain'd 
 
 That he, first B p was of H — 1 ordain'd. 
 
 Dan W e [rose] next in Degree 
 
 And he obtained the Deanery. 
 
 Ned Ash 11 then came into grace 
 
 And he supplied th' Archdeacon's place. 
 But as the Devil when his ends 
 Are served, he leaves his truest friends 
 So fare'd it with this wretched three 
 Who lost their Lives and Dignity. 
 
 In one of the pocket-books used by the Fleet Clergymen 
 is the following : 
 
 e2 
 
52 
 
 Sept. 10, 1728, " Witness that tliey (Hutchis and Brown) saw 
 Walter Clumdler strike John Gaynam, Clergyman, with a stick, 
 several blows." 
 
 EDWARD ASHWELL, 1734-1743. 
 
 In the Lansdowne Manuscripts (841. 61) is preserved a 
 letter giving an account of this person : 
 Reverend Sir, June 21, 1725. 
 
 There was lately at Southam, in Warwickshire, one Edward 
 Ashwell, who in my absence got possession of our school and 
 preach'd in several churches in this neighbourhood. I take the 
 liberty to inform you, since 1 hear he is at Kettering, that he is a 
 most notorious rogue and impostor. I have now certificates on my 
 hand of his having two wives alive at this present time, and he was 
 very near marrying the third in this town, but the fear of a prosecu- 
 tion upon the discovery of the flaming and scandalous immoralities 
 of his life forc'd him away from us in a short time. Afterwards, in 
 a village not ftir from us, he attempted to ravish a woman, but was 
 prevented by a soldier then in the house. I can assure you he is in 
 no orders, though the audacious villain preaches when he can get 
 a pulpit. I have a whole packet of letters by me, all tending to 
 the same character, which 1 think exceeds for variety of all 
 manner of enormous practices what can be charg'd upon the very 
 scum of mankind. The accounts are from persons of integrity and 
 known reputation. 
 
 I prevented his preaching one day at Brawnston, Mr. Somes's 
 parish. It would be a very kind and Christian office to give some 
 information among the clergy, that they may not be impos'd 
 upon by him, particularly to Mr. Ileyrick, for 1 married Mr. Alli- 
 cock's sister of Loddington. 1 know you will pardon this trouble if 
 the fellow be amongst you. I am, your affectionate brother, 
 
 W. Hodgson. 
 Ashwell had a great deal of business at the Fleet, and was 
 one of the most notorious of the parsons. In one of his pocket- 
 books is : 
 
 " May 2''. 1740. C. sine matrimonio Wm. Wallby of Suson in 
 Waltham Ahby Parish Husb. and Mary V^ale Ditto Sp: Venit 
 nuper ad Dominu' B d." 
 
 Ashwell died in .January 1746, as appears by the follow- 
 ing notice of his death in the General Advertiser, for the 
 15th of that month : 
 
" On Monday last died in the Rules of the Fleet, Doctor Ash- 
 well, the most noted operator in marriages since the death of the 
 never-to-be forgotten Dr. Gaynam." 
 
 WALTER WYATT, 1713-1730. 
 
 On the cover of one of the Registers is : 
 
 " Mr. Wyatt, Minister of the Fleet, is removed from the Two 
 Sawyers, the corner of Fleet Lane, (with all the Register Books) 
 to the Hand and Pen near Holborn Bridge, where marriages are 
 solemnized without imposition." 
 
 He had a great deal of business in this way,^ and by his 
 pocket-book for October 1748, it appears that he received for 
 weddings in that month £51 12s. dd. His last marriage was : 
 
 "3d March 1749, Hart Sam. Cord: of St. Paul's Debtford, 
 Bat. and Sarah Watson Sp." 
 
 In one of his pocket-books is entered : 
 
 " Sarah Wyatt — Mary Wyatt born 2 April 1717 — Baptized 
 May 2, 1717." 
 
 Wyatt appears from the following advertisements of Mr. 
 Keith (of May Fair notoriety) to have set up a marriage-house 
 in May Fair in opposition to Keith : 
 
 " The Fleet Parson (who very modestly calls himself Reverend) 
 married at the Fleet in Mr. L-yl's house, Mrs. Co-ks, at the Naked 
 Boy, and for Mr. W-yt, the Fleet Parson. And to show that he 
 is now only Mr. W-yt the Fleet Parson's deputy, the said W-yt 
 told one in May Fair that he intended to set up in opposition to 
 Mr. Keith, and send goods to furnish the house, and maintains 
 him and the men who ply some days at the Fleet, and at other 
 times at May Fair. But not to speak of the men, if he himself was 
 not a Fleet Parson, he could never stand in Piccadilly, and run 
 after coaches and foot people in so shameful a manner, and tell 
 them Mr. Keith's house is shut up, and there is no chapel but 
 theirs ; and to other people he says, their Fleet chapel is Mr. 
 Keith's chapel, and this he has said in the hearing of Mr. Keith's 
 clerk, and it is known to most of the people about May Fair, and 
 likewise Mr. Keith appeals to the generality of people about the 
 Fleet and May Fair, for proof of Mr. Reverend's being only Mr, 
 W-yts the Fleet parson's deputy." — August 27, 1748. 
 
 ' It was his certificate of marriage that was rejected in the Saye and Sole case. 
 
54 
 
 " The town being informed in this paper for some months past, 
 of a Fleet Parson that had open'd a chapel in May Fair in order to 
 supplant M. Keith, we think it not improper to acquaint the Public 
 that we shall not trouble them on that score for the future, he 
 having decamp'd on Thursday last, and returned to his own place, 
 the Fleet." — Craftsman, 26 November, 1748. 
 
 The following are Mr. Wyatt's' receipts for weddings for 
 a few weeks : 
 
 October 
 
 y« 1st 1748 
 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 At home 
 
 2 11 
 
 6 
 
 ab= 
 
 nil 
 
 8 to 15 . 
 
 . . 17 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 5 13 
 
 6 
 
 — 
 
 11 6 
 
 15 21 . 
 
 ..10 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 15 
 
 6 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 21 27. 
 
 .. 6 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 28 31. 
 
 .. 5 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 1 5 
 10 
 
 n 
 
 
 nil 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 — 1 
 
 4 6 
 
 Total 
 
 £57 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 1 8 
 
 6 
 
 
 nil 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 £17 
 
 19 3 
 
 
 He died 1 3th March 1750. By his Will proved at Doctors' 
 Commons, he appoints his brother William Wyatt guardian 
 to his children ; bequeaths to his son William his study of 
 books and sermons ; to his daughter Mary, wife of Thomas 
 Gorden, of Colebrook, five guineas, and his estate at Oxford ; 
 and notices his two other children Jemima and Kathei'ine. 
 
 PETER SYMSON, 1731-1754. 
 One of his hand-bills runs thus : 
 
 G. R. 
 
 At the true Chapel 
 at the old red Hand and Mitre, three doors from Fleet Lane 
 
 and next Door to the White Swan; 
 Marriages are performed by authority by the Reverend Mr. 
 Symson educated at the University of Cambridge, and late 
 Chaplain to the Earl of Rothes. 
 
 N. B. Without Imposition. 
 
 ' Some memoranda made by this individual in liis pocket-book, have before been 
 
 noticed at pag:c 7. 2 .\i„„af^. 
 
55 
 
 On a trial in 1751, for Bigamy, Synison was thus exunnned : 
 
 Q' — Why did you marry them without hcence? 
 
 Symson — Because somebody would have done it, if I had not. 
 I was ordained in Grosvenor Square Chapel by the Bishop of 
 Winchester the Bishop of Lincoln. Can't say I am a pri- 
 soner in the Fleet. Am 43 years old. Never had a benefice in my 
 life. I have had little petty curacies about £20 or £30 per year. 
 I don't do it for lucre or gain. 
 
 Court. — You might have exposed your person had you gone on 
 the highway, but you'd do less prejudice to your country a great 
 deal. You are a nuisance to the public ; and the gentlemen of 
 the jury, it is to be hoped, will give but little credit to you. 
 
 It appears by an entry in one of the May Fair Registers, 
 that he officiated at May Fair Chapel for Mr. Keith, in conse- 
 quence of the committal of the latter to the Fleet on his ex- 
 communication. There is a whole Register of May Fair Mar- 
 riages from 1750 to 1754, " Performed by the Reverend Mr. 
 Peter Symson and Mr. Fran^ Denevau, for Keith, May Fair." 
 
 WILLIAM DARE, 1732-1746. 
 He at one time resided at No. 12, Bell Court, Bow Church 
 Yard. He used to marry from 150 to 200 couple per month, 
 and kept a curate to assist him. In one of the Registers is: 
 
 " 1723, 14 April, Peter Kulett of St. Brides Fram Maker, 
 Mary Ann Paviour Sp: forged by Mr. Dare in 1741, who married 
 y° att Smiths att y* same time." 
 
 To a marriage by Mr. Dare in 1742 are these witnesses, 
 who were no doubt members of his family : 
 
 « Ehzabeth Dare — Anna Catherina Dee' — Sussex Dare." 
 
 JOHN FLOUD, 1709-1729. 
 
 He died suddenly 31 December 1729, " at his lodgings in 
 
 the liberty of the Fleet. He married both at the King's 
 
 Bench Prison and the Mint in 1725, having a back room" 
 
 at the latter place. He appears to have been a man of bad 
 
 ' Qu. Dave. 
 
56 
 
 character, and to have been several years a prisoner for debt.' 
 There is in one of the Registers the following memorandum in 
 Greek characters to a marriage in 1727: 
 
 " Paid five shillings, and one certificate, brought by Mrs. Blood, 
 Doctor Floud's mistress." 
 
 DANIEL WIGMORE, 1723-1754. 
 
 By his hand-writing, he appears to have been an elderly 
 man, and it will be seen in a subsequent chapter, that he 
 was addicted to the bottle. 
 
 " Yesterday Daniel Wigmore, one of the parsons noted for 
 marrying people within the Rules of the Fleet, was convicted be- 
 fore the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, of selling spirituous 
 liquors contrary to law." — Daily Post, May 26, 17.38. 
 
 JOHN MOTTRAM, 1709-1725. 
 
 In 1716 he was convicted in the Consistory Court of Lon- 
 don for solemnizing clandestine marriages within the Liberty 
 of the Fleet Prison, and suspended from the execution of his 
 ministerial functions for three years." 
 
 An acount of his conviction in the Court of King's Bench, 
 in the same year, when he was fined ^^200, has been given at 
 p. 11. In one of his pocket-books he states the arms of the 
 family of Mottram, of Mottram, in the deanery of Maccles- 
 field, to be, S. a chev: Arg. charged with three roses between 
 three cross crosslets Or. 
 
 He left the Fleet prior to August 1727. 
 
 ROBERT ELBORROW, 1698-1702. 
 
 He is called in 1702, an ancient man, and master of the 
 chapel ; — that in 1702 he married but few without banns or 
 licence, " but under a colour doth allow his clerk, Bartho- 
 lomew Bassett, to do what he pleases.''^ 
 
 ' Post Boy, 8 January 1730. 
 ' Clironolo'^ical l^egister, February 1717. 
 
 ^ Qu. if tlie following is liis iiiairiagc at St. .lanies's, Dukt-'s IMace, in Ui30 : 
 " Rol)' ]'',ll)orrow, IV Avis Short, Sp"^. — Cornelius Lilly, l' ■" 
 
57 
 
 ROBERT CUTHBERT, 1723-1730. 
 
 He appears to have married a great many, and to have 
 been pretty well oft' in the world, as various memoranda are 
 met with in his pocket-books for 1733, relating to his stud ; 
 thus, " My man came att ten pounds a-year ;" " my old 
 horse went out y* 26th ;" " my pad went out y* 8 Sept." — 
 " London, May y-^ 3, 1730 RecV'. of Mr. Rob*. Cuthbert the 
 sum of 6 guineas for a chesnutt stone hors for the use of Mrs. 
 Sarah Flood by W". Graham."— He died 4th August 1734, 
 aet. 42. 
 
 JEROME ALLEY, 1681-1707. 
 
 He was a prisoner at the Fleet ; he left the practice of 
 marrying there " for some other preferment." 
 
 JAMES STARKEYf 1718-1730. 
 
 In 1737, it was deposed upon a trial at the Old Bailey tiiat 
 he had run away into Scotland. 
 
 THOMAS CRAWFORD, 1723-1748. 
 
 The following Letter from the Grub Street Journal, June 
 10, 1736, mentions this individual : 
 
 " Gentlemen. — Having frequently heard of the many abo- 
 minable practices of the Fleet, I had the curiosity on Sunday, 
 May 23, to take a view of the place, as I accidentally was walk- 
 ing by. 
 
 " The first thing observable was one J L by trade a 
 
 carpenter, (whose brother, it is said, keeps the sign of the B 
 
 and G r,) cursing, swearing, and raving in the street in the 
 
 time of divine service, with a mob of people about him, calling one 
 of his fraternity, (J. E.) a Plyer for Weddings, an informing 
 rogue, for informing against one of their Ministers for profane 
 cursing and swearing, for which offence he paid three pounds odd 
 money : the hearing of which pleased me very well, since I could 
 find one in that notorious place, which had some spark of grace 
 left ; as was manifested by the dislike he shewed to the person 
 that was guilty of the prol'anation of God's s^^aeied name. 
 
58 
 
 " When the mob was dispersed, I walked about some small time, 
 and saw a person exceeding well-dress'd in a flower'd morning 
 gown, a band, hat and wig, who appeared so clean that I took him 
 for some worthy divine, who might have accidentally come out of 
 the country by coach, and as accidentally be making the same re- 
 marks as myself; but upon inquiry was surpriz'd at being assured 
 that he was one T C a watchmaker, who goes in a Mi- 
 nister's dress, personating a Clergyman, and taking upon him the 
 name of Doctor, to the scandal of the sacred function. He may 
 be seen at any time at the Bull and Garter, or the Great Hand 
 and Pen and Star, with these words under written — ' TJie old and 
 true Register near the Rainbow CofFee-House. — T. S." 
 
 JAMES LANDO, 1737-1743. 
 
 I think he must be the person who, under the signature 
 and address of " Paul Crape," " from my abode not a mile 
 from Fleet Ditch," maintains a long controversy in the Gazet- 
 teer of 1737, on a commercial question ; especially as Paul 
 refers to his having been chaplain of a man-of-war. His op- 
 ponent, " Jack Bowline," is very severe upon him, and writes 
 thus : 
 
 " But your patron must be at his last shift, when reduc'd to the 
 necessity of hiring one of the most abandon'd of all wretches, a 
 Fleet Parson, to ridicule and confound some, and explain away 
 other Articles of Treaties, <S:c." 
 
 " But, reverend Sir, let us leave Divinity, 'tis indeed beyond the 
 reach of my lead-line. Yet along shore and in the shallows, my 
 sea-boots on, I '11 wet thern with you or any Fisherman in Eng- 
 land; and now for dabbling a little. True it is, the subject, as 
 you say, is invidious and unpopular, but more so, I '11 venture to 
 say, near the banks of a certain Canal west of Fleet Ditch, than 
 on any bank to the eastward of it in England ; and though at 
 present you can hope for no presentation from any West India 
 merchant, yet I doubt not but in due time you will become fully 
 intitled to the patronage of one merchant at least, very eminent in 
 the Viryinia Trade, who often has had it in his power to translate 
 many a worthy Gentleman who, before you, has liv'd within less 
 than a mile of Fleet Ditch ; but possibly your greater merit may 
 
 ' Qu. riios. f 'lawfonl. 
 
59 
 
 intitle you to higher preferment within less than a mile of Hyde 
 Park Corner."' — Daily Post, Oct. 31. 
 
 In his advertisements he styled himself " late Chaplain to 
 His Majesty's ship The Falkland, and the public are inform- 
 ed that the said Mr. Lando tcacheth Latin, French, 8tc. 
 Three times a AVeek."" He had a place he called St. John"'s 
 Chapel, in Half Moon Court, the first house joining to Lud- 
 gate, on Ludgate Hill. 
 
 " Marriages with a Licence, Certificate and a Crown Stamp, at 
 a Guinea, at the New Chapel, next door to the China Shop, near 
 Fleet Bridge, London, by a regular bred Clergyman, and not by a 
 Fleet Parson as is insinuated in the public papers ; and that the 
 Town may be freed mistakes, no Clergyman being a prisoner in 
 the Rules of the Fleet dare marry ; and to obviate all doubts, this 
 Chapel is not in the verge of the Fleet, but kept by a Gentleman 
 M'ho was lately Chaplain on board one of his Majesty's men-of- 
 war, and likewise has gloriously distinguished himself in defence 
 of his King and Country, and is above committing those little 
 mean actions that some men impose on people, being determined 
 to have every thing conducted with the utmost decency and regu- 
 larity, such as shall be always supported in law and equity." — 
 Daily Advertiser, 1749. 
 
 At the end of one of the Fleet Registers is the following, 
 supposed to be written by some opponent in the marrying 
 business : 
 
 " John Lando, a French Minister, in Church Street, Soho, oppo- 
 site att a French pastry or nasty cook's. His Landlord's name is 
 Jinkstone, a dirty chandler's shop : he is to be heard of in the first 
 flower next the skye." 
 
 It appears by the Books at the Adnjiralty that he was ap- 
 pointed to the Falkland on the 29th May 1744, and served 
 on board till the 17th Jan. 1746. He does not appear to 
 have been in employ afterwards. 
 
 James Wagstaffe . . 1689—1729 
 
 John Tarrant . . 1742—1750 
 
 Richard Sindrey . . 1722 — 1740 
 
 ' Qy. Tyburn ? 
 
GO 
 
 Although the persons named in 
 to have been the most notorious 
 to have married a great many ; 
 officiated there : 
 
 the foregoing pages appear 
 of the Fleet Parsons, and 
 the following persons also 
 
 John Becket 
 
 1748 
 
 Samuel Buckler 
 
 . 1732 to 1751 
 
 Samuel Brayfield 
 
 1754 
 
 Benjamin Bynes 
 
 . 1698— 1711 
 
 Michael Barrett' 
 
 1717 — 1738 
 
 James Col ton* 
 
 . 1681 — 1721 
 
 Joseph Callow 
 
 1752 
 
 Clayton 
 
 . 1720 
 
 Colteman 
 
 1688 
 
 Draper 
 
 . 1689 — 1716 
 
 Francis Denevau^ 
 
 1747 — 1754 
 
 William Davis 
 
 . 1718 
 
 John Evans^ 
 
 1689 — 1729 
 
 Ed. Evans 
 
 . 1727 
 
 John Farren 
 
 1688 
 
 Henry Gower 
 
 . 1689 — 1718 
 
 Thomas Hodgkins* 
 
 1674 — 1728 
 
 Anthony Hanson 
 
 . 1731 — 1732 
 
 John Jones 
 
 1718—1725 
 
 William Loveday 
 
 . 1750 
 
 Morton 
 
 1720 
 
 Edward Marston 
 
 . 1713—1714 
 
 John Marshall 
 
 1 750 
 
 D Murry 
 
 . 1719 
 
 Nodes 
 
 1753 
 
 Oswald 
 
 . 1712 
 
 ' Barrett used to marry at tlie INIint and King's liench, at very low fees. 
 
 ^ Colton lived in Leather Lane, next door to the Coach and Horses. He liad a 
 living in Essex till the Bishop of London deprived him for ill practices. In Sept. 
 1721 he lodged with Mr. Lee in Bare Alley, Fleet Ditch, at 3s. 6(/. per week. 
 
 ' He assisted Keith at May Fair : see the account of Synison, page 55. 
 
 ■• He used to marry at the Mint and King's Bench also. 
 
 * llodgkins appears to have been one of the earliest of the Fleet Clergy. In 
 one of the Fleet Books, commencing 1674, the marriages are "solemnised by 
 Dr. 'riio\iias llodgkins, Minister of tlie Fleet and Rules thcieoft"." — (^iicrv, If not 
 his \\iilow who kept ii niariiage-lioubC in Fleet Lane. 
 
61 
 
 Oglesby 
 
 between 1728 aiul 1740 
 
 Thomas Privavaul 
 
 
 Patterson 
 
 1732 
 
 Thomas Ryder 
 
 . 1722 to 1743 
 
 Edward Roberts . 
 
 1698 
 
 E. Reynolds . 
 
 . 1749 
 
 Nehemiah Rogers' 
 
 1700 — 1703 
 
 Rali>h ShadwelP 
 
 . 1733 — 1734 
 
 James Shaw 
 
 1723 
 
 Edmund Stacy 
 
 . 1719 
 
 Anthony Shellburn' 
 
 1722 — . 1737 
 
 John Stainton » 
 
 . 1730 
 
 Anthony Simpson 
 
 1726 — 1754 
 
 Walter Stanhope 
 
 . 1711 
 
 Standly 
 
 1747 _ 1750 
 
 Nathaniel Skinner 
 
 . 1716 
 
 J. Town . 
 
 1754 
 
 John Tomkings 
 
 . 1740 
 
 John Tarrant 
 
 1688 
 
 Jacob Townshend 
 
 . 1754 
 
 Jo. Vice 
 
 1689—1713 
 
 J. Wise 
 
 . 1709 
 
 Wilkinson^ . 
 
 1740 
 
 Wm. Williams 
 
 
 Clem. Walker 
 
 1732 — 1735 
 
 Isa. Wodmore 
 
 . 1752 
 
 It is impossible to obtain partit 
 
 ;ulars of all the Fleet Parsons 
 
 ' Rogers was a prisoner in the Fleet, but went at large to his living in Essex, 
 and all places else ; " he is a very wicked man as lives for drinking, whoring, and 
 swearing." (See Letter at p. 10.) He was Rector of Ashingdon in Essex, 13 
 June 1687, and died in 1710. (See Morant's Essex.) On the cover of one of 
 the Fleet pocket-books is " Nehemiah Rogers, of Ashendon, Essex; Zachariah 
 Rogers, Tain, near Colchester ; Lydia Rogers." 
 
 ^ Shadwell. This man was blind, at least so it appears by the following memo- 
 randum after one of his marriages: " Marr: and Clerk four shillings. No Certiri- 
 cate. This Parson was blind." See also the use made of a blind parson, page 65. 
 
 ^ He died some years prior to 1740. 
 
 ^ Query, If the Minister of the Savoy, who was transported in 1756 for mar- 
 rying contrary to the Marriage Act of 1753, and of whom an account is hereafter 
 given. 
 
62 
 
 who married at the Fleet, for by the following paragraph 
 they appear to have been sometimes common beggars : 
 
 " On Friday last (19th,) was brought before Sir Joseph Hankey, 
 at Guildhall, a man in a Clergyman's habit, for begging, which he 
 made a common practice of: he was committed for further ex- 
 amination the next day, when it appeared he was a notorious idle 
 fellow, and common cheat, having made use of that habit only to 
 impose on the public; as also to perform the office of marrying 
 several persons at the Fleet Prison ; whereupon he was committed 
 to Bridewell to hard labour." — General Advertiser, Dec. 22, 1746. 
 
 THE NAMES OF SOME OF THE PERSONS WHO KEPT MAKRIAGE 
 HOUSES, AND ACTED AS CLERKS. 
 
 Bartholomew Bassett, 1699.' 
 
 Joshua Lilley, Hand and Pen, near Fleet Bridge.' 
 
 ' Bassett rented, in 1702, the cellars of the Fleet Prison, at 100/. per annum. 
 By his ill practices at the Fleet, he maintained a large familj'. (See letter, p. 10.) 
 He was clerk of the Fleet Chapel. 
 
 On the trial of "Handsome'' Fielding in 1706 for marrying the Duchess of 
 Cleveland, a Fleet Register was produced to prove the person Fielding had first 
 married, was a married woman, and had been married at the Fleet. Elizabeth 
 Bassett deposed that her father-in-law was clerk of the Fleet Prison, and kept the 
 Register of the INIarriages there, but he having been sick, she had the Register in 
 her keeping ; and that about two or three months ago a woman came to the house 
 of deponent and said there was a marriage of one Lilly Bradly and Mary Wands- 
 worth, and offered deponent a piece of money if she would strike it out. The 
 entry being read, ]Mr. Roscorloe deposed that he went with Mr. Longford by the 
 Attorney-General's order, and searched the books in the Fleet and found no such 
 entry as that now produced, and deponent took particular notice of the blank where 
 this certificate was then entered. — Celebrated Trials, vol. iii. 540. 
 
 * Lilley. This man pretended to hold his appointment as Register of Marriages, 
 &c. at the Fleet, from the Lord Chancellor, and to have given lOOOZ. for it. 
 
 The following entry is made in one of the Registers by one of the parsons : 
 
 "June ye 13th, 1744, Whereas one Joshua Lilley, being a noted man for iiavino- 
 more marriages at his house than the generality of y= people could have, he the said 
 Joshua Lilley keeping several plyars, as they are call'd, to gett these weddings, I 
 have put his marriages down in a separate book, but finding ill-convenience arise 
 thereby, fro' this 13th instant do insert it wti> y* rest." 
 
 Ashwell has inserted in his pocket-book the following note of this man : 
 
 " N. B.— On Sunday, November y* 6, 1740, at y"-" hour of 9, in my house de- 
 clared that if he had not come home out of y country, being fled for punishment, 
 having cut of his hair (to prevent being known) y' y' indictment for marryino- James 
 
63 
 
 John Lilley, Bull and Garter,' 
 
 John Burnford, lived, in 1742, at the upper end of Half- Moon 
 Court, at the Hand and Pen, and Noah's Ark, next Ludgate. He 
 acted as clerk, and kept a register of his own. He died about 
 July 1747. 
 
 William Bettell. 
 
 Thomas Bennett. 
 
 Thomas Cox, Hand and Pen, Ditch Side. 
 
 Thomas Hodgkins. 
 
 Sarah Barrett, Fleet Bridge, 1747 (many marriages appear to 
 have been solemnized at her house.) 
 
 Bethra Reynolds, 1743. 
 
 Mrs. Levy. 
 
 Ann Hodgkins,- Fleet Lane, kept a register. 
 
 Huney to Miss Herietta Arnold, he had been ruin'd but yt he swore it off and 
 y* attorney promis'd to defend him, and it cost him only a treat of 10s. ; had I 
 
 staid, says the s*" Joshua Lilley, where I was, viz , the indictment would have 
 
 stood good against me, but my taking y« side of the prosecutor, y'= young ladies, 
 I have got it safe off." 
 
 One of his handbills is as follows : 
 
 " J. Lilley, at ye' Hand and Pen, next door to the china shop, Fleet Brido-e, 
 London, will be perform'd the solemnization of marriages by a gentleman regularly 
 bred att one of our Universities, and lawfully ordain'd according the institutions 
 of the Church of England, and is ready to wait on any person in town or countrey." 
 
 ' In 1717, John Lilley, Turnkey of the Fleet Prison, was found guilty and fined 
 51. as being clerk to a clandestine marriage in the Fleet. " This John Lilley keeps 
 an alehouse joyning to the Fleet Prison, and calls one room in it his chapel, which 
 he pretends to be tolerated by the Bishop of London, and gives out marriage certifi- 
 cates printed with the City arms, calling 'em (as was then proved) my Lord Mayor's 
 certificates." (Printed handbill.) 
 
 " On the trial of John Miller for bigamy, the following evidence was given : 
 
 Ann Hodgkins. " On the 11th March 1724-5, in the evening, the prisoner and 
 this woman Mary Moore were married at my house in Fleet Lane, by James 
 Starkey, a minister that lodged with me nine years. Mr. Ballantine gave her away, 
 and his wife was present at the same time. 
 
 Ballantine. " 1 never gave away Mary Moore to the prisoner, nor ever so much 
 as saw them together at Mrs. Hodgkins' house in my life ; but any body may have 
 a certificate at her house for half-a-crown, and have their names entered in her 
 book, for as long time past as they please. 
 
 Mrs. Ballantine. " I never saw the prisoner and Mary Moore married at Mrs. 
 Hodgkins' house, though I lodged there, nor ever knew of their being married at all. 
 
 An?i Glover. " Rlary Moore says she'll do my business for me. I went with 
 her to prove her marriage at Mrs. Hodgkins', and Mrs. Hodgkins said, for half- 
 a-guinea she'd enter her name in the Register, for a certificate would not do if the 
 
64 
 
 Matthias Wilson, Hand and Pen, near Fleet Ditch, kept a 
 Register. 
 
 John Wheeler, (a great many marriages were performed " at 
 Wheeler's.") 
 John Connor. 
 James Crookes. 
 
 Isaac Ewell, the King's Head, Tm-nkey of the Fleet Prison, and 
 appears to have kept a Register. 
 John Smith. 
 M. Artridge. 
 
 Mr. Potter, Mr. Albone, 1743, Roger Griffin, Fountain Tavern. 
 Thomas Dawbykin. 
 Thomas Gibson. 
 Ed. Patty, (clerk in 1729.) 
 Mrs. Balls, Hand and Pen, 1736. 
 
 Mr. Crosier, Hoop and Bunch of Grapes, Holborn Bridge, 1740. 
 George Gillett, Swan, in Fleet Market, 1742. 
 Mr. Roberts, The Lamb, 1725. 
 
 William Wyatt, Walter Wyatt's Brother, a house in Sea Coal 
 Lane, 1746, the New Market House, Fleet I-ane. 
 King's Arms, Fleet Market. 
 Mr. Boyce, King's Head, in the Rules, 1714 to 1729. 
 
 Horse Shoe and Magpie, Fleet Market, 1753. 
 Wheatsheaf, Fleet Market, 1734-1749. 
 Hand and Pen, and Noah's Ark, next Ludgate. 
 
 The Bishop Blaze and the Two Sawyers, Fleet Lane. 
 Mrs. Francis, Queen's Head. 
 
 Rainbow Coffee House, Corner of Fleet Ditch. 
 Mrs. Johnson, Golden Lion Tavern, Old Bailey. 
 Samuel Pickering \ 
 
 Thomas Owen, 1725.' >The Fighting Cocks, Fleet Lane. 
 Mr. Keen, 1739. ) 
 
 marriage was not registered : her name was not in the book, and I saw Starkey the 
 parson interline' her name in the book five years backwards. The parson is now 
 run away into Scotland, and Mary Moore begg'd me not to appear at this trial. 
 
 Andrew Montgomery. " Mrs. Hodgkins offered me a marriage certificate for a 
 young woman that happened to be with child, and was hunted by the parish officers, 
 and she said, for half-a-guinea it might be entered backwards in tiie book, and would 
 skreen her from tlie anger of her friends." — Prisoner acquitted, and allowed a copy 
 of his indictment. * 
 
 ' Upon the trial of Thomas Ileild, in 1756, for bigamy, this man dcjiosed that 
 
65 
 
 Oat.es, > 
 
 Daniel Stebbings, Shepherd and Goat, near Fleet Bridge, 1748. 
 Mr. Crompton, and on his death, Mr. Green, the Cock and Acorn. 
 Mr. Demat, The Cock. 
 
 he had kept a public house in the Fleet, since 23 March 1754, and that one 
 Thomas Russel with Sarah Mills came there to have a marriage entered seven 
 years back, which he refused. Mills denied tliis, and the Court committed Owen 
 for perjury. (He had possession of many of the Fleet Registers, see p. 68.) 
 
 ' On Tuesday, one Oates a plyer for and clerk to Weddings at the Bull and 
 Garter, by the Fleet Gate, was bound over to appear at the next Sessions, for hiring 
 one John Funuell, a poor boy, (for half-a-guinea,) that sells fruit on Fleet Bridge, 
 to personate one John Todd, and to marry a woman in his name, which lie accord- 
 ingly did ; and the better to accomplish this piece of villainy, the said Oates pro- 
 vided a blind parson for that purpose. (^Grub Street Journal, Sept. 1732.) 
 
66 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FLEET BOOKS. THEIR TRANSMISSION TO THE CUSTODY OF 
 
 THE BISHOP OF LONDON. EXTRACTS, ETC. ETC. 
 
 The Fleet Marriages having been performed at a great 
 number of houses in the neighbourhood of the Fleet, and 
 the proprietors of the houses being frequently the possessors 
 of the registers of marriages performed there, it is impossible 
 to trace all these books from their first use until their de- 
 posit in the registry of the Bishop of London. 
 
 There are, it is believed, several of the Fleet Registers 
 still in private hands ; two of them are in possession of Mr. 
 Philip Charles Moore in Doctors'" Commons ; the one com- 
 mencing 2nd Feb. 1716 and ending 31st Dec. 1722, containing 
 about three or four thousand marriages ;^ the other (indorsed 
 " John Lilley his book,"") commencing 14th October 1716 
 and ending 1719- — Another Register is in Ra\vlinson''s Col- 
 lection (marked B. 360.) in the Bodleian Library at Oxford ; 
 it commences 4th March 1725 and ends 16th March 1730: 
 on the first leaf is written the following title : " A True and 
 exact Register of Marriages at the Fleet, A.D. 1724-5," to 
 which John Locker, F.S A. the intimate fi'iend of Dr. Rawlin- 
 son, has added the following note, " \Vhich being produced on 
 a trial relating to the marriage of Francis Goulding, in Aug. 
 1726, came to the hands of Richard Woolfe, Esq. Register of 
 the Duchy, who gave it to Dr. Rawlinson, 2nd Feb. 1754."" 
 
 After much trouble and enquiry, however, the following is 
 the best account which can be collected. 
 
 By a printed bill pasted in one of the Fleet Registers, it 
 
 ' The following Exhibit is written in tliis Book : " Phillips otherwise Delafield 
 otherwise Devall, against IJclafield otiierwise Devall. This Book was in the pos- 
 session of Ann Ilodgkiiis at the time of her examination in the above cause, the 19"* 
 of Juno 1733.— Edw-* Rubhworth No"-* Publ :' 
 
G7 
 
 appears tliat after 175 i-, tlie Clerk of tlio Ilcv. Mr. Lando 
 (one of the Fleet parsons) had the Ilogister Books of Dr. 
 Wigmore, Evans, Lando, Callow, Wodmor, Nodes, Bray- 
 field, and Townsend ; and that he had taken an office in 
 Half-Moon Court, Ludgate, where searches for marriages 
 might be made. 
 
 In another book are pasted the following advertisements : 
 
 This is to acquaint the Public, 
 To prevent the trouble and expense of searching at different 
 houses for Fleet Marriages, 
 
 That the Books of all the Marriages performed by D"^ Wigmore, 
 D"" Dare, and several other former clergymen, at all the different 
 houses of the Fleet, and other parts of Town and Country, are to 
 be seen at the Public Register-Office, the uppermost house but 
 one in Half-Moon Court, joining to Ludgate. 
 
 And that the Public may not be deceived, no person has the 
 originals but the Keeper of this Office, and no Certificates, but 
 from the same, are good at law. To be searched any day of the 
 week except Sunday. 
 
 Kept by the Widow of the said D"" Wigmore. 
 
 " N.B. These Registers mention the exact house where every 
 marriage was performed, both in the Liberties of the Fleet, &c." 
 
 Marriages' 
 Decently solemnized (as they are at May Fair,) 
 At the old original private Chapel of the Rev** Mr. Lando, late 
 Chaplain to His Majesty's ship the Falkland. St. John's Chapel 
 is in Half-Moon Court, the first bouse joining to Ludgate, on Lud- 
 gate Hill. 
 
 Where Marriages from the year 1700 maybe found of the Rev'^ 
 D"^ Allen, D"^ Mortram, D"^ Bucklan, D"^ Ryder, D-^ Syndery, D' 
 Cuthbert, D'' Flood, D"" Gainham, D"" Ashwell, widi some of D"" 
 Wyatt's, and all of D"" Evans and D"" Wigmore, to be searched 
 without imposition. 
 
 The Fleet Registers became a saleable article as early as 
 
 ' This advertisement is headed with the King's Arms ia the centre, with the 
 device of a hand and pen on one side, and the ship Falkland on the otiier. 
 
 F 2 
 
G8 
 
 1732; for, on the trial of Elij?. Reader in 1741, Wm. Scape 
 deposed, that about eif^ht or nine years previously he bought 
 a Register Book, in which was the marriage in question, 
 but the person who owned it was dead; and on the trial of 
 Thomas Hurnell, in 1741, tiie following evidence was given: 
 
 Mrs. Barrett. — I knew Anthony Shellburn, he has been dead 
 some years. I live in Fleet Lane ; but the book this marriage is 
 in, belongs to Mr. Cox, at the Hand and Pen, at the Ditch Side. 
 I have got with me the Registers of my husband's Marriages. Mr. 
 Cox is dead, and the book went to Ms tvidow ; she has since sold it to 
 other persons. 
 
 When one of the Fleet Registers was taken to Shrewsbury, 
 on a trial there in 1794, a Mrs. Olivi^ gave the following 
 evidence on the subject : 
 
 " My first husband was Thos. Owens. I had the Register 
 Books of Fleet Marriages in my possession from my marriage in 
 1761, till I went to America eleven years ago. I then sold them 
 to Mr. Panton. My husband Owen died about 1773. My hus- 
 band made a will. I had the possession of the books myself, as 
 my husband had other business. I heard my husband say he pur- 
 chased these books. He had a Marriage Hou^e in Fleet Lane. I 
 used the books to grant certificates upon parish affairs." 
 
 By the Will of Thomas Owens, dated 18th Feb. 1775, and 
 proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, he bequeaths 
 to his wife Susan Owens, " Ail the Books of the Registrj/ of 
 the Fleet Marriages, now in my possession.'''' 
 
 By a small copy-book among the Fleet Registers, it would 
 
 ' Mrs. Olivi, or Olive, was originally a servant to a man named Lilly, who kept 
 a Marriage House near the corner of Fleet Street. She used to ply for Lilly, and 
 when he died, Owens succeeded to one of the Marriage Houses, and married this 
 Mrs Olivi. It is not improbable that Owens bought the books of Lilly's repre- 
 sentatives. Lilly was one of the most fortunate of the marriage-house keepers, and 
 had a very brisk trade. 
 
 The following advertisement shows Mr. Olive's residence : 
 
 " All thu original Register Books containing the marriages solemnized at the 
 Fleet, May Fair, and the Mint, for upwards of one hundred years past, may be 
 searched 'oy applying to George Olive, at the Wheat Sheaf, in NichoU's Square, 
 near Cripplcgate. The great utility of these Collections jjrevcnts any encomiums." 
 
appear that some of the books were in the possession of 
 Elizabeth Parker and John Pridham from 1770 to 1775, 
 and this co|)y-b<K)k aj)pcars to have been used for entering 
 searches. ISome of the certificates inserted are signed " John 
 Pridham, at the Bull and Mouth, Bloomsbury Market." 
 
 By the evidence on the before-mentioned trial in 1794, it 
 appears that " The persons who kept the different Marriage 
 Houses were occasionally the Clerks ; if nobody was in the 
 way, any person executed the office as a Clerk. The man 
 that in general was their servant, he registered them.'"^ 
 
 Five or six hundred of these books were purchased of 
 Mrs. Olivi, about 1783, by Mr. Benjamin Panton. Mr. 
 Puntou, in his evidence in the cause of Lloyd v. Passingham, 
 said they weighed more than a ton ; that he had been in the 
 habit of attending Courts of Justice with them, and never 
 knew them refused.- 
 
 About January 1805 Mr. Panton died, leaving a Will, 
 whereby he bequeathed these books to his daughter, M. 
 Panton, who possessed them until 1813, during which time 
 they were advertised by printed hand-bills as follows:— 
 
 " All the original Register Books of the Marriages in the Fleet, 
 May Fair, and the Mint, are now in the possession of M Panton 
 (Register Keeper), No. 50, Houndsditch, by whom they are ex- 
 amined and Certificates of Marriages granted." (Then follows a 
 list of the Fleet Clergy.) 
 
 *** " Enquiries by Letter (post paid) immediately answered." 
 
 In 1813 Miss Panton disposed of them to Mr. Wm. Cox. 
 Amongst the books is one used to contain an account of all 
 
 ' In one of the Registers is a memorandum, " Here ends the Register kept by 
 my wife." — In Miss Scroope's reply to ]Mr. Cresswell's Narrative (publislied 1747), 
 she says, " He took nie up stairs (at the Fleet) where were a Clergyman and a 
 woman, who officiated as Clerk. These 1 found had been appointed several days 
 before. When the Ceremony was over, IMr. Cresswell paid them. The Clergy- 
 man took a book in his hand and demanded the fee for registering the Marriage. 
 He refused giving so much and offered a smaller price. This was not accepted ; 
 and i\Ir. Cresswell said, ' then it shall not be registered at all.' The Clergyman 
 then applied to ;ue, an I I, not knowing the consct[ueiice, readily declared my in- 
 difference." 
 
 - Short-hand notes taken at tlie trial. 
 
70 
 
 searches made : it is headed, " This Book contains all the 
 searches found and not found from the year 178i to 1804 
 and 1813, that as been made by any of Mr. Panton's familly 
 since inn their possession, and is now going on by Mr. Wm. 
 Cox, 1813." 1 
 
 They were purchased of Mr. Cox by Government, in 1821 ; 
 and in one of the printed parliamentary estimates for that 
 year, entitled, 
 
 " An account showing how the sum of £280,000 granted by Par- 
 liament to provide for extraordinary expenses of a civil nature 
 was expended," is the following item. 
 
 " George Maule, Esq. Solicitor for the affairs of the Treasury, to 
 enable him to purchase for the use of the public a series of 
 Books containing the Entries of Marriages in the Fleet Prison 
 and the Rules thereof, from the year 1686 to the year 1734. 
 
 £260. 6*. 6d." 
 
 Having then become the property of the Government, they 
 were deposited at the office of the Registrar of the Consis- 
 tory Court of London," accompanied by the following letter 
 from the Secretary of State. 
 
 ' By some entries made in one of the Fleet books, (No. 219.) it appears that in 
 1761 the writer received for Searclies and Extracts in and from the books in his pos- 
 session, £61. 14s. In 1762, £90. As. 8d. For a Certificate of the Marriage of 
 
 James Ford and Isabella Liscomb, 
 
 John Phillips and Mary Guss 
 
 Isaac Gouldin and Ann Willis 
 
 Tho^ Bassett and Jane M'Uoual 
 
 Jn° Baptiz Brozos and Rlary Potter 
 
 F^rancis Brovvnford for goin to Westm'^ 
 And there is in the same book the following minute ; " Nov. 30, 1761, bought the 
 Books of M'*. Drummon." 
 
 A great many of the small memorandum books iiave the name of " Tho* Cope" 
 on the covers. 
 
 It is believed tlie following office, mentioned in the Law Lists for several years, 
 belonged to Mr. Panton. " Register containing iMarriages of the F'leet, iMay Fair, 
 and IMint, in Rutland-House, Charter-House Square." 
 
 ^ It is to be wished that they were better arranged and indexed. There are 
 several very large indexes, which only require a little time and attention to ascertain 
 to what Registers they refer. The pocket-books also might bo bound together, and 
 preserved from dust and dirt; and if Government would give about £300, these 
 objects mi^ht be attained. It was a labour pf many months to i.'o through so many 
 
 £6. 
 
 6s, 
 
 .0(1. 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 
Wliitoliall, Aiuil 25, 1821 
 " Sir, 
 
 " It having been jiu]<z;eil expedient t(» j)urclKi.se a set of books 
 containing the original Entries ot" Marriages solennii/ccl in the 
 Fleet Prison and Rules thereof, from the year IGHCi to the year 
 1754, I liave been honoured with His Majesty's connnands to de- 
 sire that you will receive the said books from Mr. Maule, the 
 Solicitor to the Treasury, and give him a receipt for the same, and 
 deposit them in tlie Registry of the Consistory Court of London. 
 " I have the honour to be. Sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient humble Servant, 
 
 " SiDMOUTIl." 
 
 " The Registrar of the Consistory 
 Court of London, or his Deputy." ^ 
 
 It has been already mentioned, that the date of the earliest 
 Fleet Register now preserved in the Bishop's Registry is in 
 •IGT^ ; it is a small thin quarto, and in order to show the de- 
 scription of persons married, and the style of Entry, the first 
 four pages are subjoined : — 
 
 (Page 1.) 
 November y^ 6, 1674. 
 
 William Frenle}'^, Ship Carpenter, of St. John's, Wapping, s.d. 
 Batch", and Elizabeth Simons of the same 3 
 
 D' Tho' Hodgkins. 
 February y" 26, 1675. 
 
 John Hutchinson, Husbandman, of Rumford in Esex, s. d. 
 Batch', and Mary Pauley, Widow 2 6 
 
 D'. T. Hodgkins. 
 
 hundreds of dusty, dirty, and sometimes ragged books, to extract the materials for 
 this volume. 
 
 • The following paragraph appeared in the Cunrier at the time : — 
 " A very important discovery has a short time since been made of tlic orifinal 
 books of Registry of iNlaniagcs and liiiths which occurred in the Fleet I'rison and 
 its Rules from tlie year 1686 to 1754, together with those celebrated at tlie Mint and 
 fllay Fair Chapel : of the authenticity of these records no doubt is entertained ; and 
 they have, by an order from Lord SiJmouth, been lately deposited witli tlie Regis- 
 trar of the Uiocese of London, in Godliaian-strcet. The long period of doubt and 
 difficulty which obscured the union of the marriages and births of that era, before 
 the (late of the Warriage Act, will now be cleared, and the titles to estates during 
 that period lind a clear elucidation hitherto veiy much rccpiired." [Courier, 8 June 
 1821.) 
 
72 
 
 April y* 10 1675. 
 
 Joseph Daniel, Lamplighter, Batch'', and Mary Steed, .v. 
 
 Widow S 
 
 D' T. Hodgkins. 
 July y^ 27 1675. 
 Thomas Procter, Weaver, of St. Olive, Widower, and Mar- s. 
 
 garet Gallway of the same, Spinster 6 
 
 D^ T. Hodgkins. 
 
 (Page 2.) 
 Aug^'. y' 5 1675. s. 
 
 John Cambert, of York City, and Elizabeth South 10 
 
 D' T. Hodgkins. 
 September y' 4. 
 Abel Wood, Labourer, of Borwell in Cambridgeshire, Wi- s. d. 
 
 dower, and Elizabeth Webb of the same, Spinster 2 6 
 
 October y' 9. 
 
 Joseph Rice, of Beton in Glostershire, and Elizabeth Hislop s. 
 of St. Georges in the East 13 
 
 D' T. Hodgkins. 
 October y* 10. 
 
 Richard Greneld, Husbandman, of Ridg, in Oxfordshire, 
 Widower, and Ann Green of Windall, in Norfolkshire, s. 
 Widow 5 
 
 D' T. Hodgkins. 
 (Page 3.) 
 October y^ 16 1675. s. 
 
 Jonathan Haslop, Gardner, of Edminton, and Agnes Russell 7 
 
 D' T. Hodgkins. 
 
 October y* 23. 
 
 John Crockman and Mary Barrett, fordcbottle of Roch- s. 
 ford in Esex 14 
 
 D' T. Hodgkins. 
 October y' 29. 
 
 John Freeman, of Hornchurch, in Esex, and Elizabeth «. d. 
 Loveday of the same 7 G 
 
 D-^ T. Hodgkins. 
 Nov' y* 6. 
 
 John Garret, Husbandman, of Drayton in Esex, Batch", and s 
 Sarah Young of the same, Spinster 3 6 
 
 D' T. Hodgkins. 
 
7.3 
 
 (Page 4.) 
 
 November y"" 11 1G75. ,£ .?, 
 
 Peter Right CIia{)iTian of Shortly Bridge in Nortliuniber- 
 iand, Widower, and Mary Uucheson of truckucar in 
 Scotland, Spinster 1 1 
 
 D' T. Hodgkins. 
 
 November y*^ 18"'. s. d. 
 
 Henry Duck, Farmer, Batch', and Mary Serjeant, Spinster 4 6 
 
 D' T. Hodgkins. 
 November y* 27. 
 
 John Packwell, of Mitcham in Surry, Widovrer, and Ann s. 
 Phillips of the same 1 1 
 
 D' T. Hodgkins. 
 
 There are in this early Register nine more Entries in 1675 ; 
 seventy-four Entries in 1676; forty-seven in 1677; fortv- 
 two in 1678; forty-three in 1679, and eight to the 3rd of 
 Marcli 1680, which is the date of the last Entry in tlie Book. 
 Amongst some old covers, leaves, &c. &ec. connected with the 
 Fleet Registers, are six or eight leaves of an old Register 
 with the Entries purporting to be of the date of 1668, but 
 upon a close examination, it appears that tlie entries have 
 been originally dated 1698, but the tail of the nine has been 
 erased and it has been made into a six. This must have been 
 done at considerable trouble. The falsehood is also detected 
 by referring to the same matches in another Book, where 
 they are entered as of 1698. 
 
 ^rtViUH from tlje Mr0t0ter0, 
 
 The following are extracts from the Fleet Registers, which 
 consist of about two or three hundred large Registers, and 
 a thousand or more of the rough Books, or, as they are called, 
 Pocket Books. 
 
 " November 5"' 1742 was married Benjamin Richards of the 
 parish of St. Martin in the Fields B' &- Judith Lance D'^ Sp — 
 at the Bull and Garter and gave g & for an antidate to March y* 
 11"' in the same year, which Lilley comply'd w"' & put 'em in his 
 Book accordingly, ^/^ere bcwf/ a vacauci/in the Booh sutahhto the time" 
 
 " On Tuesday Aprill the 20"' 1742 came a man (!v: woman to 
 the Bull & Garter the man pretended he would marry y'' woman 
 by w'ch pretence he gott money to pay for marrying & to buy a 
 
74 
 
 ring, but left the woman by herself and never returned, upon 
 which J. Lilley takes the woman from the Bull & Garter to his 
 own house and gave her a Certifycate as if she had been married 
 
 to the man. The Maid a Welch Girl call'd brought me 
 
 a Guinea to change and told me the story." 
 
 " Jn° Ellis & Jane Davis, she being dead left a house in y"" 
 Market Place in Ailsbury 2 Flower pots at y'' Door. Wanted by 
 y^ Soror & Wax Work a Sham C of y' Nupt Oct' 9'" 1739." 
 
 " June 10 1729 John Nelson of y'' Pa of St, George Hanover 
 Batchelor and Gardener & Mary Barns of y" same Sp: married 
 
 Jn" Floud Min"' 
 Cer: dated 5 November 1727 to please their parents." 
 
 " Wanted 18 years back." 
 
 " IS"' offered me 10^ 6" to fill up a blank in Mr. Flood's Name & 
 Books." 
 
 "John Thomas Briquett of the Pa of St Giles's Attorney at 
 Law and Sara Jarman of the Pa of St Anns Westm' W & Sp mar: 
 by me in Newgate some years since 
 
 in Major Barnardy's Room. Jn° Floud Cler." 
 
 " Aug'' 3P' 1738 James Clement Gent of St Edmund y" King 
 London B' & Eliz Taylor of St Pauls Covent Garden Sp"" at Far- 
 rells Bagnio in Long Acre — £3. 5. 0." 
 
 " 1728, Joseph South, of the parish of Deptford in Kent, and 
 Eliz. Durham of the same place Ba. and Sp. married at a Cook- 
 shop, next the Yorkshire Gray, at the house of John War- 
 minger." 
 
 " These wicked people came this day ; Peter Oliver of St. 
 Olaves Carpenter and Elisabeth Overton B. and W would have a 
 certificate dated in 1729, or would not be married if it was to be 
 dated to this time — went to Lilley 's and was married." 
 
 " This 3P' of May came a man and a wooman to be married at 
 M" Levi's. Gave M' Ashwell 2^ 6'^: he would have 3' 0" all ; but 
 
 they abusied him, and all pcrKons there, went to Bates or 
 
 M" Dare's, and gave ii" G'' and was married, which was nine shil- 
 lings, when they might been done cheaper." 
 
 " N.B. A coachman came and was half married, and wou'd give 
 bat 3' {)'' and went off." 
 
75 
 
 " 1741, Walter Turner, of St. Ann's Soho, B', and Sarah 
 Sysani, appcar'd to be a vile design'd skeme, as I afterwards dis- 
 covered." 
 
 " September y" ll'^ 1745. 
 Edw'' ' 
 and Elizab*** 
 
 were married and would not let me know their names, y* man said 
 he was a weaver and liv'd in Bandylegwalk, in the Borough. 
 
 F E. Ashwell." 
 
 " 13 Sept. Edw'^ Emmet Gent, of Barkin in Essex B and Han- 
 nah Bowie D" Sp. Castle Tavern Paternoster Row, M"^ Burnford's 
 Weding. W. 2 guineas, M. 1 guinea, was to be secret for a month." 
 
 ' Besides the Registers, there are in the Bishop's Registry a very great number 
 of small pocket-books used by the Fleet parsons, and which, it appears, they were 
 in the habit of carrying about with them to the different public-houses where Mar- 
 riages were to be done, and making the entries therein, and afterwards transcribing 
 them into the large Register. In case, however, the parties did not pay for regis- 
 tering, or if they wished the marriage to be secret, their surnames were not tran- 
 scribed into the large Register, so that these pocket-books are valuable as containing 
 particulars not to be met with in the larger Register. 
 
 After the entries of Marriages, the remarks of the clergyman are often to be met 
 with ; as a specimen of them, are the following — 
 
 " Jn" Todd of St. John's Wapping at King Edw<i* Staires waterman, a friendly 
 adviser and director to y'= Fleet for IVIarriages." 
 
 " N.B. they had liv'^ together 4 years as man and wife : they were so vile as to 
 ask for a Certifycate to be antidated." 
 
 " N.B. they wanted an antidate from 45 to 41." 
 
 " N.B. Both y* man and woman were exceedingly vile in their behaviour." 
 
 " N.B. the woman was big w"> child, and they wanted a Certifycate antidated ; 
 and because it was not comply'd with, they were abusive w* a Witness." 
 
 " N.B. the person belonging to y^ house aloud me only 2* out of 8*." 
 
 " 4 .0—2. .6— p'' 3..0 Waterman." 
 
 (About 4s. or 5s. appears to have been the clergyman's fee, and Is or 2s. the 
 clerk's. Out of these, an allowance was made to the persons who brought the par- 
 ties to be married.) 
 
 " Had a noise for foure hours about the money." 
 
 " N.B. Stole a silver spoon." 
 
 " 1740 Geo Grant & Ann Gordon B &c Sp. Stole my cloathes brush." 
 
 "' 1740 R'' Shears & Hannah Allen B & S. The person whoe was with tiiem 
 I believe knew it to be a made marriage." 
 
 " Davis and Wyatt brought the others, and were very abusive to M' Ashwell. 
 I absent, and went and left a pott of 4 penny to pay." 
 
 " Her eyes very black, and he beat about yc face very much." 
 
 " Annulus . . 0. 7. 0." 
 
 " Snuff Box left for is, 6J." 
 
76 
 
 " Scpr the 6'^ John Fletcher of the Parish of St. Mary's, 
 Oxon. Da. and Gent., and Mary Gardner, of the Pa. of Fulham, 
 Hammersmith, Spinster, att the Goat, Phillips's, the 6"'. 
 
 John Flood. 
 
 *' This was a Gentleman, Gaynam refused to marry. By reason 
 of his being student att Oxford, and knowing his father." 
 
 "IMay y* G"^ 1740 James Wheeler Drum-^ of y*^ P* Ilegim* & 
 Catherine Smith W & W — At y* new Bawdy-house joyning 
 Grinley's." 
 
 " June the 21, 1741. Thomas Millis Butcher of Kingston-upon- 
 Theams B' & Mary Jarvis of S' Clement Dean Sp. M"^' Crooks. — 
 N.B. Madam Roberts the player who lives in Duke Street West- 
 minster came w"' them & a Barronight who keeps her came with 
 them." 
 
 "Jan'' 4, 1743-4. Thomas Brown of the first troop of Horse 
 Guards W^id"" & Mary Hope of St. Pancras — at the Shepherd & 
 Goat. — N.B. This s** Thomas Brown that took the Standard at 
 Dedingen." 
 
 "June, 2G. 1744 Nathaniel Gilbert Gent of St Andrews Hol- 
 born and Mary Lupton — at Oddy's. — N.B. There was 5 or 6 in 
 company, one amongst seem'd to me by his dress and behavi' to 
 be an Irishman. He pretended to be some Grand Officer in the 
 army. He y*" said Irish Gent told me before I saw y*^ woman y* 
 was to be married y* it was a poor Girl a going to be married to a 
 Common Soldier, but when I come to marry them I found myself 
 impos'd upon, and having a mistrust of some Irish roguery, I took 
 upon me to ask what y*^ Gentleman's name was, his age &c and 
 likewise the Lady's name & age — Answer was made me — What 
 was that to me G . . dam me if I did (not) immediately marry 
 them he would use me ill ; in short, apprehending it to be a con- 
 s{)iracy I found myself obliged to marry them in Terrorem — N.B. 
 some material part was omitted." 
 
 " 1742 May 24 A Soldier brought a Barber to the Cock who 
 I think said his name was JameS; Barber by Trade, was in part 
 married to Elizabeth, they said they were married enough." 
 
 " 1717 Feb 4 "i Cha Bowles of Soutluvark Merchant & Doro- 
 at his own House rthy Hunt of Lower Areley in Worstcrshirc. 
 Southwark ' W and Sp." 
 
77 
 
 " I have put. a secret Wedding in my private Book of Memo- 
 randum on this day" (Nov. 5. 1742.)' 
 
 " The woman ran across Ludgate Ilill in her shift." ^ 
 
 "Entered in Lilleys Book by an unknown liand — Dec' 1 1716 
 Dan Paul St James's Capt" in y"^ Horse Guards. EHzabeth Murray 
 B Sp." 
 
 " March y« 4"^ 1740 William •'' and Sarah 
 
 he dress'd in a gold waistcoat like an Officer, she a Beautifull young 
 Lady with 2 fine diamond Rings and a Black high Crown Hat & 
 very well dressed — at Boyce's." 
 
 " N.B. There was 4 or 5 young Irish Fellows, seem'd to me 
 after y* Marriage was over to have deluded y^ young woman — gave 
 d Clk y & :* N.B. behaved rogueshly. Broke the Coachman's 
 Glass." 
 
 " N.B. married at a Barbers Shop next Wilsons viz. one Ker- 
 rils for half a Guinea, after which it was extorted out of my 
 pocket and for fear of my life delivered." 
 
 In one of the Books for entering searches is the followinor : 
 " John Colebrook wd" weaver, Joyce Ireland Sp Sep 3"' about 
 the time that 2 Lords Beheaded on Tower Hill." 
 
 " 20 May 1737. Jn" Smith Gent of St. James Wesf Batch-- & 
 Eliz Huthall of St Giles's Sp' at Wilson's. By y* opinion after 
 matrimony my Clark judg'd they were both women, if y*^ person 
 by name John Smith be a man, he 's a little short fair thin man 
 not above 5 foot." 
 
 " After marriage I almost co'' prove y" both women, the one was 
 dress'd as a man thin pale face & wrinkled chin." 
 
 " Thomas Monk Sawyer & Marg* Lawson pawn'd to Mr. Lilley 
 a handkerchief & silver Buttons for 2^" 
 
 ' A separate Book was kept for the purpose of insertlnfr Marriages which were 
 desired to be kept secret. Upon perusal of a private Book of this sort from 1748 to 
 1753, it appears that nearly all the contracting parties were of a superior station in 
 life, the additions being " Gent, and Sp." 
 
 * It was a vulgar error that a mm was not liable to the Bride's dei;ts if he took 
 her in no other app;irel than her shift. The Daily Journal of 8 Nov. 1725, men- 
 tions a similar exhibition at Lllcomb, in Kent. 
 
 ^ In a great many instances the parties refused to tell their surnames. 
 
 ■• Letters were used to denote the Sums received for fees, in the same way as they 
 are now used by 'i'radesmen for their j)rivate marks. 
 
78 
 
 '< N.B. y^ woman was a Neighbour's Daught^jr, the Sister raised 
 a Mob and s'' my maid was my W " 
 
 No. 3. A large tliick volume of Marriages,- commencing in 
 1689, containing also many Baptisms, of which the fol- 
 lowing is one : 
 
 « 22 Aug. 1691. PhilHp Orrell, son of Benjamin and EHzabeth 
 Orrell, baptized. 
 
 Sponsors John Jones 
 Rich'' Stone 
 Ann Jackson, 
 Mary Ellis." 
 No. 5. A very large folio intituled " The Register of the 
 Fleet wherein is contained the severall marriages cele- 
 brated and performed In The New Chappie St Brides 
 beginning January 1751," ends July 1753.^ 
 
 " Charles a Countryman & Lusey would not tell their names vil 
 Beaheaver. J.F." 24 Dec. 1751. 
 
 No. 24. A very large square folio, commencing Sept. 14, 
 1709, ending 18 Oct. 1715 (about 1200 entries.) 
 
 " Xmas 1714. John Caterwood in White Lyon Cort Cornhill 
 married to Mad* Wattgraves att Mr Lilleys — and her former hus- 
 band is Liveing. Married by Mr. John Mottram. Shee lodging att 
 Charles Street in Westminster." 
 
 No. 27. A thin folio of 40 pages, for the year 1744. The 
 initials of the Clergy man''s name and the fees paid are 
 added to the entries ; the amounts of fees paid for the 
 marriages registered on three pages are thus: 
 . 3 . 7. G 
 
 2. 6 
 
 
 3. 6 
 
 1. 1 
 
 
 2. 6 
 
 5 
 
 
 7. 6 
 
 2. 6. 
 
 
 5. 
 10. 6 
 
 "Jan: 13.1744. 
 
 & 
 
 John - 
 Mary - 
 
 1 W D 2. 6" 
 
 10. 
 
 6 
 
 2. 
 
 6 
 
 10. 
 
 6 
 
 7. 
 
 6 
 
 5. 
 
 
 7. 
 
 6 
 
 ' The Numbers here placed against the Books from which the Author's extracts 
 are made, are tliose in liis own manusciipt, not those of tlic Registers thcivisclves. 
 
79 
 
 No. 30. " The Registry of the WetUlings at the King's 
 Arms Fleet Market by Sundry Parsons." 
 
 " 1740 Octo 24. Gwin Lloyd of Hendor Merionothshire Esq. & 
 Elizth Taylor of St. James's Westm-^ B & S. P^ W. Wyatt." ' 
 
 No. 40. The Marriages in this Book performed by Mr. Floud 
 about 1725, have the Names of the Witnesses sub- 
 scribed. 
 
 No. 41. 1721-1727, " Register Book of Marriages by Sundry 
 Parsons. The Chappie Register." 
 
 " October 6, 1722. Thomas Hinkly, Mitcham, Husbandman. 
 Sarah Baker, Morton B. S. (Mott) no cer : under 
 
 £02. 2. 6 for cheating of me Matt. Wilson." 
 
 (At the end of the Book.) " At the sign of the Hand and Pen 
 on the ditch side London, where the Ancient Register Books of 
 Fleet Marriages are kept, persons may be married at their own 
 conveniency by a Minister of y^ Church of England." 
 
 No. 47. About 5000 entries, 1725-1736. 
 
 " N. B. that a Woman by the name of Martha Mathews came 
 here when Mr Lilley was out and said she was married to one 
 Rich^ Edwards. I enter'd it down by mistake in a Certificat but 
 no such marridge was ever in this Book Jobson." 
 
 " 1728-9 March 3. Henry and Ann, no other names. 
 
 Ja. Wagst." 
 
 " Novemb'" 1728, 4"'. Edward Euerret of St James Westmins"" & 
 Hannah Grady of y^ same, Batch"^ and Spins"^ 
 
 not married." 
 
 "January 1728-9, 13'". Tho'^ Conden of St Margaretts West- 
 minster Shoemaker and Mary Jones Sp* of do. 
 
 " N.B. behav*^ very indecent and rude to all." 
 
 " 1729 June 15. Francis and Sarah thay went a way In hast But 
 married. P* Jos^ Lilley P" John Floud, Min'" 
 
 " 1734 December 1-5. John Mountford of St. Ann's Sohoe Tay- 
 lor B, Mary Cooper Ditto Sp. 
 
 suspected 2 Women, no Certif :" 
 
 ' This was the entry in question in tlie case of Lloyd and Passingham, 
 
} 
 
 «0 
 
 " 1 735 June 5"'. Dennis and Ann 
 
 Done at the Mitre at Brentford ) 
 
 , , . . f P"^ J. Gaynam. ' 
 
 would give no sirnames J •' 
 
 No. U. 1721-1733, about 1200 entries, with an Index. 
 
 "17:28 March 1. Christopher Martin of Hanover Sq: St. 
 Georges and Ruth Agar of Marribone married. J. Floud, Min" 
 Register'd on the 4 of August 1728 and the marriage done the 
 4 of August on Sunday." ' 
 
 " 25 June 1729. W"" Kniht of the Pa of Hampstead Gard- 
 and Batchelor & Joanna Woodward of the parish of Wilsdon 
 Spinster, married. P"' Jn" Floud." 
 
 W™ Knight none to search but him- 
 or Joanna Woodward, Bride — no 
 month set on the Cer. only the 
 24"^ day W" Knight. 
 
 No. 46. 1731-1737. 
 
 " 1733-4, January 14. Cornehus Tho' of St Mary Rotherhithe 
 B' & Gent & Hester Green Sp'. Left a ring.— 0. 10. 6. 
 
 Rob* Cuthbert." 
 
 No. 51. 1727-1754, but has entries as early as 1700, with an 
 Index. 
 
 This is one of the most curious of the Books, as nearly 
 every entry has some observation annexed to it, written in 
 Greek characters, which illustrate the shameful practices of 
 the Fleet Clergymen. 
 
 "March 1729, 2". John Gordon Esq', of the liberty of Westm"" 
 & Barbara Raynes of Greenwich in Kent B tt Sp. 
 
 P' Jn" Floud. 
 
 They were married at East Lane in Greenwich paid two 
 guineas, Clark five shillings & two parchment Certificates half a 
 guinea more. Doctor & self made an equal division (E^^j/aX Ai- 
 utfioy) of the whole. I had five guineas since for proving the 
 marriage." 
 
 " Robert King a Fisherman & Elizabeth Price, both of St. Giles 
 in the fields. B & Sp P' Jn" Evans. 
 
 ' On tlie 4th August is an entry of the marriajje on that day, and in tlie margin 
 " the Ccitiliciile dated \f l*-" ol' Maicli 1728," so that there was an entry to agree 
 witli the ceitiflcule and another to aiiree witli the fact. 
 
81 
 
 P"* one shilling only, the Bridegroom a boy about eighteen ycai s 
 of age c"t the Bride about sixty five. They were brought in a coach 
 & attended by four Viv/npiyf/ Ulioptjc out of Urury Lane as 
 guests."' 
 
 " November 1735, G'\ John Fletcher a Butcher of St Clements 
 Danes & Ilannali Neelor of St Andrews Holbourn B & Sp. 
 
 J. Gaynam. 
 
 This couple had cohabited many years but upon a small legacy 
 being left they then thought proper to marry. I gave them an old 
 Certificate & antedated it to the 24th of Aug' 1734 sign'd Backler 
 for which I was to have had five shillings but marr seven & six 
 pence. They were brought by Mrs. Warner." 
 
 " May 1730, 28'\ William Tew Gent & Katherine Skeere both 
 of St Buttolphs Bishopsgate B S: Sp P"^ Robt. Cuthbert 
 
 married at the Globe Tavern Hatton Garden, myself had five 
 shillings as Clark & gave a Certificate on stampt paper (Hand- 
 somely entertained.)" 
 
 "June 1727, IP". William Whittingham Watchmaker & Ra- 
 chael Babington both of St Ollaves Silver St, B & Sp 
 
 P^ Jn« Floud 
 paid marr five shillings & two shillings CertifF: the said Rachel the 
 prettiest woman I ever saw." 
 
 ' The immorality of some of these clandestine marriages is thus noticed by 
 M. I'Abbele Blanc, in his Observations on the Laws relating to Marriage previously 
 to the iMarriage Act. " They all have a tendency to favour even tlie most indecent 
 marriages ; they do not require by far enough of public solemnity. As the wedding 
 ceremony may here be transacted in any place whatever, I have heard that a clergy- 
 man who was in prison, to get a more tolerable subsistence, hung an advertisenient 
 at his window with these words ' IFeddings performed cheap here.'' They autlio- 
 rize all the acts of the common prostitute — their most common way is to intoxicate 
 the man whom they have d. design upon, and then such a creature who wants to be 
 the wife of a man who would perhaps be ashamed to own her for a mistress, pre- 
 vails upon him by her dangerous caresses, to own before witnesses that he takes her 
 for his wife. It often happens so, when he imagines he is only in jest or sport. But 
 all jesting in this affair becomes serious in England. The ' yes ' is always taken in 
 the strictest sense of the letter ; the woman perhaps has a chaplain ready, this 
 minister of the Gospel lends himself to the mystery of iniquity, and that which in 
 France would be only a farce, which the civil magistrate would be prepared to 
 chastise, becomes in England a serious act authorized by the Laws ; whence it fre- 
 quently happens that a man who went to bed very easy and very drunk, finds liim- 
 self at waking, married to a creature whom lie most heartily despises and abliors. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 "November 1727,30"'. Richard Stokes, Shipwright &' Frances 
 Thompson both of St Giles's in the Fields. B & Sp 
 
 P"^ Jn" Floud 
 marriage seven shillings c^- six pence & four shillings bed &- certiff : 
 Bob Balls wife brought them and had them bedded.'"' 
 
 " Aug'' 12, 1729. Abraham Wells a Butcher of the Parish of 
 Tottenham in Mid'ex & Susannah Hewitt of Enfield W & W" 
 
 P" John Floud 
 p** five shillings per total. N. B. The 28'" of April! 1736 M" Wells 
 came and Earnestly entreated me to erase the marriage out of the 
 book, for that her husband had beat & abused her in a barbarous 
 
 manner, and she had much rather be esteemed his W that 
 
 she might have a proper recourse of Law against him. I made her 
 believe I did so for which I had half a guinea and she at the same 
 time delivered me up her Certificate, no person present (according 
 to her desire.") 
 
 « 1734 May 13"\ Samuel Stewart, a Chocolate Maker, & Mary 
 Nugent, both of St. M. Ludgate. B. & Sp. 
 
 P^ Ralph Shadwell. 
 
 Mr. Comings gave me half a guinea to find a Bridegroom, and 
 defray all expences. Parson two and sixpence — Husband D" — 
 and five and sixpence myself." 
 
 "July 1728, 22'". Josiah Welsh, a Cordwainer, and Elizabetli 
 Cutchey, of St. Giles's, Cambridge. W. & Sp. P' Jn" Floud 
 
 Brought by Mr. Ralf and Mr. Hargrove of the Guards, who paid 
 me two guineas to provide a Husband for Madam, and defray all 
 the subseqvient charges of the wedding, — viz. Docter 7^ 6^. Bride- 
 
 The other daj' a gentleman of Lincoln who had been unfortunate in this respect, 
 sliot himself through the head the next day, as soon as he understood the foolish 
 step he had taken." (Letters of a Frenchman, No. 10.) 
 
 ' " Now I have promised him mountains, if in one of his mad fits lie will bring 
 you to him, in her stead, and get you married together and put to bed together, and 
 after consummation, Girl, there's no revoking." (Love for Love.) 
 
 In 1737, llichard Leaver was indicted for Bigamy, when the following evidence 
 was given. 
 
 Alice Allington. " On January 18, 1733-4, I was married to the prisoner, at 
 the Hand and Pen, in Fleet Lane, by the famous Doctor Gainham. 
 
 Frisoner. " 1 don't know that wonmn for my wife. 1 know nothing about tlie 
 wedding. I was fuddled over night, and next morning I found myself a-bed with a 
 strange woman, — 'And who are you? how came you here!' says T, — '() my 
 dear, says she, w'e were marry 'd last iiiglit at the Fleet.' {Sessions Papns.) 
 
83 
 
 groom G". the rest to myself. For a further account of Mr. Welsh 
 vid. May 8, 1727, December the 11'" and 23"', 1727." 
 
 "December 1727, 11"'. Walter Janes, Cordwainer of St. 
 Martins Ludgate, and Mary Spreadbourough, of St. Giles in the 
 Fields. W. c'c Sp'. P' Jn° Floud. 
 
 Marriage five shillings — one D° Clerkship, and one D° CertifF. 
 Tiie man had five shillings for marrying her, of which I had one 
 and sixpence. N.B. The above said person marrj's in common."' 
 
 " 1727 December 23. Richard Armstrong, Cordwainer, and 
 Mary Roberts, of Shoreditch. Wr & Sp. P"" Jn° Floud. 
 
 paid one pound five shillings, viz. parson five shillings, and the 
 
 ' Thus it clearly appears that Welsh, alias Janes, alias Armstrong, alias 
 
 married four women in fourteen months ; each time changing his name. The 
 object of the brides in paying for a husband to be found for them, was to enable 
 them to plead coverture to any action for debt, or to give them the means of show- 
 ing a certificate in case of their being eiiceinte. From an entry following one on 
 the 19"> Dec"^ 1728, the Bridegroom appears to have been paid two and sixpence 
 "for his trouble.''' — (See p. 82.) 
 
 " George Mackarly, a Soldier, & Bridget Marcan, of St. Giles in the fields, 
 W&W P'Jn" Floud. 
 
 p** eight shillings per total, viz. two & sixpence to the Bridegroom for his 
 trouble, the rest between Doctor and self." 
 
 Dr. Gaily, in his " Considerations on Clandestine Marriage," (1750,) observes, 
 " It is well known to be a common practice at the Fleet, and that there are men 
 provided there, who have each of them within the compass of a year married several 
 women for this wicked purpose." 
 
 Nov' 21, 1729, was tried a cause in the Court of King's Bench, between James 
 Hopman plaintiff, and Jane Hunter defendant, when Defendant proved she was 
 married to one Matterson, a soldier in the Foot Guards, at the time she contracted 
 the debt ; but it being proved on the other side that Matterson had a wife then 
 living, and that Defendant gave him half a guinea to marry her, to screen her from 
 paying her debts, the Jury found for the Plaintiff. — Daily Journal, 1729. 
 
 In one of the pocket-books are the following entries " This to be incrted 21 of 
 Feby 1739-40, Will Jones, Vintner, of Covent Garden, B. & Jennett Hunter, D". 
 Sp. (at Wheeler's.) They came first to Burnford's, and would give but 5s. she 
 dress'd very fine, and looked like a common woman, wanted a man to personate." 
 
 " Ocf 14 1732. John Blevvington, of Rippon, in Yorkshire, Bricklayer, B. &c 
 Sarah Barington, of Colchester, Wid'". N.B. This Barrington s* she had £40 pr 
 annum, had been confined for debt, and married Blewington to skreen her." 
 
 " 24 July 1737. Simon Parrott, Plasterer, of Swallow St., St. James's, & Ann 
 Pritchett, Wid^ & Wid''. When he had married her s"* he would never bed her, 
 he would marry any body. " 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 man five shillings, (vid: December 11"" ut supra,) and fifteen shil- 
 lings myself." 
 
 "July 1729, ir\ John Rogers, Gent, and Elizabeth Hussey, 
 (alias) Rebecka Mitchell, both of St. Margaret's, Westm . W & 
 W". P^ Jn° Floud. 
 
 p"* half a guinea per total. Mrs. Hussey, though a Quaker, 
 (none of the most scrupulous,) she could not comply with the cere- 
 monies of our church, yet would take the man to bed to her upon 
 the bare dependence of credit of a Fleet certificate ; she being 
 only personated by Beck Mitchell." 
 
 " Robert Draper, Gardiner, and Ann Osborn, both of Battersea, 
 married at Kit Linerells. I gave a certificate, for which I had 
 only a quartern of brandy." 
 
 "22 July 1728. Nicholas Richardson, invalid soldier in Chel- 
 sea Hospital, and Judith Taylor, of Chelsea. W & W. P' Jn° 
 Floud. ]Married at Chidleys. I gave a Certificate, and was paid 
 with a promise." 
 
 " 10 Dec. 1728. W" Salkeld, a Marriner, and Mary Jones, 
 both of St. Andrews, Holborn. B & Sp. P' Jn" Floud. Marr: ten 
 shillings, two and sixpence Clark; one D° Register, two and six- 
 pence Certificate. They were married at twelve at night, and lay 
 all night in bed in my house, for which had one shilling and six- 
 pence more." 
 
 " 22 March 1728. Tho* Stringer, a Brewer's Servant, and Ann 
 Criswell, both of St. Sepulchre's. B & Sp. P^ Jn" Floud. Paid 
 three shillings and sixpence. Certificate one and sixpence; it being 
 pretty late, they lay here, and paid me one shilling for bed, (a kind 
 girl.") 
 
 " Edmund Daviss, a Hatter, of St. George's, Bloomsbury, and 
 Mary Sprigg Martin, of St. Giles's in the Fields. B (S: Sp. P' Jn° 
 Floud. These couple were bedded about six minutes, and paid 
 only five shillings per total, being friends of Mary Hall. Vid. 
 Apr. 9, 1727." 
 
 " Patrick Fitzgerald, a Carter, of St. George's, Hanover Square, 
 and Grace Bennit, of St. Giles's in the Fields. B & Sp. P' Jn° 
 Floud. Marr: five shillings, certif. one do.; brought by Mr. Clark, 
 overseer of St. Giles's." 
 
 (After another Parish Wedding.) 
 
 " Paid three shillings, a Parish Wedding, and the people being 
 
S6 
 
 pretty remarkable, I believe there was a mob of three hundred 
 people after them."' 
 
 " ^9 Aug' 1729. John Wills, Distiller, of St. Dunstans in the 
 East, and Mary Mackarty, of St. Andrew's, Holborn. \V & W". 
 Marr: five shillings, and two do. Certif. Two most notorious 
 Thieves. P' Jn" Floud." 
 
 " 12 Dec. 1729. John Slater, Gent, of St. Andrew's Holborn, 
 and Frances Thompson, of St. Dunstan's in the West. B & Sp. 
 P' Jn° Floud. This Marriage upon Honour. Vid. the 30"' of Nov. 
 1727." 
 
 " 16 Dec. 1729. George Stewart, Gent, and Mary Hill, both • 
 of St. Dunstans in the West. B & W". P' Jn° Floud. Marr: viz. 
 per an o/d Licence^ one guinea and a half, the wedding halt a 
 guinea, and Certif. five shillings, performed at the Sun Tavern, 
 in Holbourn." 
 
 "23 Aug. 1732. John Cope, Gent, and Susannah Clark, both 
 of Clapham, in Surry. W' & Sp. P"^ Sam' Backler. P'' ten and 
 sixpence per total, being married before by proxy." 
 
 " 25 Aug* 1735. Matthew Medcalf, a Weaver, and Ann Hub- 
 bard, both of Whitechapel. B & W. D. Wigmore. Total three 
 and sixpence ; but honest Wigmore kept all the money ; so fare- 
 well him." 
 
 " 20 Nov' 1735. John Greentree, a Husbandman, and Eliza- 
 beth Seager, both of Wimbledon, in Surry. B & W". P' Walter 
 Wyatt. Total nineteen shillings, my Lord and self took them 
 from Brown, who was going into the next door with them." 
 
 " 27 April 1736. Cotton Bartlett, Apothycary, and Elizabeth 
 Sharp, both of St. Bride's. B & W. P"^ W. Wyatt. Total six 
 shillings. Brought by a Counsellor." 
 
 " 1 July 1728. Joseph Otway, Gent, and Deborah Smith. B ^' 
 
 ' On Saturday last, the Churchwardens for a certain parish in the City, in order 
 to remove a load from their own Rhoulders, gave 40s. and p;iid the expense of a 
 Fleet marriage, to a miserable blind youth, known by the name of Ambrose Tally, 
 who plays on the violin in Rloorfiekls, in order to make a settlement on the wife 
 and future family in Shoreditcii parish. To secure their point tliey sent a parish 
 officer.to see the ceremony performed. One cannot but admire the ungenerous pro- 
 ceeding of this (Jity parish, as well as their unjustifiable abetting and encouraging 
 an irregularity so much and so justly complained of, as these Fleet matches. In- 
 vited and uninvited, were a great number of poor wretches, in order to spend the 
 bride's parish fortune. — Daily Post, 4 Julij 1741. 
 
 ^ Perhaps a Licence from the Commons which had already been used 
 
86 
 
 Sp. Married by the Doctor abroad, but upon his letter to me 
 for that purpose, registered here, and was paid one shilling." 
 
 " 12 July 1729. Thomas Whiting, a Coppersmith, and Dorothy 
 Todd, both of St. Bottolph's Aldgate. B & Sp. P' Jn" Floud. 
 Marr : ten shillings and sixpence, and two and sixpence Clark. 
 No certif. I had them married at Mrs. Johnson's, at the Golden 
 Lion Tavern, in the Old Bailey, January 30'\ 1731.' Mrs. Whiting 
 had a Certificate and paid me two and sixpence for it." 
 
 " 30 Dec. 1729. Joseph Payne, a Picture Frame Maker, and 
 Mary Hall, both of St. Dunstan's in the West. B & Sp. P' Jn° 
 Floud. Marr: eight shillings, one Clark and two certificate; 
 brought by Friend Pickett. I had not my share of the Wedding, 
 Doctor Floud being call'd home, taken ill, and dying the next 
 morning." 
 
 The following is the form in which the entries in this book 
 are made. 
 
 1735 
 
 October 
 
 Bay, Thomas, a Mealman, of Springfield, & 
 
 Rebecka Brown, of Much Baddah, in Essex 
 
 P' Jn° Floud. 
 
 28' 
 f^agg: V/gYjyi (d, 2*x 
 
 No. 50. A narrow folio, commencing 1730 to 1733, intituled 
 " Robt. Cuthbert's Marriages." 
 
 " 1731 May 8. Tho^ Rolte and Ann Calvert, Ba & Spinster, 
 Gent, of St. Giles's Camp's. She of St. Andrews, Holborn ; no- 
 body to see it. W™ Toone Father. An old Gentleman gave 
 £1. 1*. and a Gent, from my Lord Baltemore £2. 2*. he had cert: 
 20 day." * 
 
 " 1731 August 11. W"' Charlton and Mary Laneve, Ba & 
 Spinster, weaver, of Blackfriars, at my Ladyes,^ Fleet Lane." 
 
 ' Althougli performed in 1731, entered as 12 July 1729. 
 
 * Thomas Rolte, of Sucombe, county Herts, died February 1754. She was Aim 
 daughter of Felix Calvert, of Nine Ashes, in Ilunsdon in said county, and died 
 \156.—{Clutlerhuck"s Herts, vol. ii.) 
 
 ^ The Rev. Robt. Cuthbert was doubtless so occupied in tlie solemn duty of 
 marrying others, that he had no time to go through the ceremony for himself. 
 " My Ladye" might be supposed to mean Landlady, but after another entry of 
 marriage is a memorandum less equivocal, it runs thus, 
 
 " paid five shillings, and one ceititicatc, brought by Mrs. Blood, Doctor 
 Floud's M/s//fW." 
 
87 
 
 (At the end of the book is) " Rob' Cuthbert, Minister of 
 the Fleet, niortiuis anno Doni: 1734. Quarto die Augustii 
 aetatis sui 42." 
 
 No. GO. A narrow folio, 1738 to 1740. 
 
 " Nov' 6, 1739. Richard Oliver, Gent, of St. Katherines, B' and 
 Eliz. Holloway, of St. Gregory's Sp'. Mar: upon Tick." 
 
 " March y« 30'" 1740. John James, B' and Eliz'" ; would not 
 tell their names, but paid £1. 10s." 
 
 No. 68. A Uirge narrow folio, 1739 to 1743. 
 
 " October y* 13, 1741. Denis Christopher, Bookbinder, Ches- 
 hani, Bucks, Wid", to Martha Townsend, of Ailsbury, D" Sp'. att 
 y* Cock. N.B. Married for nothing to obblige Mr. G older At- 
 torney-att-Law." 
 
 « Nov" y<^ 21, 1742. Akerman Rich*, Turner, of Christ Ch% 
 Bat', to Lidia Collet. — Mrs. Crooks. N.B. They behaved very 
 vilely, and attempted to run away with Mrs. Crooks Gold Ring." 
 
 " 28'". Smith Robert, Hosier, of St. Martin's in y-^ fields, 
 
 Wid', to Sarah Skett : appear'd a rogue." 
 
 No. 69. A long narrow folio, 1742 to 1743, intituled " Re- 
 gister Book of Marriages, by Mr. Dare." 
 
 " 2'' October 1742. James, son of Ephrahara and Mary Miller, 
 of White Fryers, in the parish of St. Bride's, half baptized at Bos, 
 by W. Dare, priest of the Church of England." 
 
 " 7 November 1742. Thomas Boadish, of St. Andrew Holborn, 
 Gent. Widower, and Carew Tate, of St. Pauls Covent Garden, 
 Spinster. 
 
 5 Elizabeth Dare, 
 _ . , Anna Catherina Dee, 
 
 ( Sussex Dare. 
 " November 23'' 1742. George Wright, &c. &c. Ac." 
 " October 2" 1743. John Figg, of St. Johns the Evang', Gent, 
 a Widower, and Rebecca Woodward, of Ditto, Spinster, at y* same 
 time gave her y* Sacrament." ' 
 
 ' This is the only instance met with wlicic these Clergymen have added to their 
 infamy hy administering tlic Sacianient after marriage. They were, liowever, 
 
88 
 No. 73. A long narrow folio, 1742 to 1744. 
 
 " 1744 Aug* y^ 20. John Newsam, Labourer, of St. James's 
 West, and Ann Laycock, D". Wid' & Wid". They run away with 
 the Scertifycate, and left a point of wine to pay for ; they are a 
 vile sort of people, and I will remember them of their vile usage 
 for a achample for the same." 
 
 No. 76. A narrow folio, 1742 to 1749. 
 
 " October 6, 1745. Mr. Francis Snead of Cheapside-\ 
 his friend. Went to Roehampton, the persons Robert and Vl. I." 
 Mary. J 
 
 " Octo'21, 1745. Siff ^ 
 
 Hannah, proceed no further then > M. D. 
 the ring. Wyatt." 3 
 
 No. 81. 
 
 "March 19, 1744. Church a Woman, Mrs. Dillion, Nurse iny'^ 
 Herald's Office." 
 
 No. 101. A short folio, ending about 1719, and intituled 
 " The Register kept by Thomas Hodgkins, wherein is 
 contained y'^ several marriages celebrated and peYormed 
 within y'^ Rules of y" Fleett and Chappell thereoff by y^ 
 Rever*^ John Vise, John Draper, James Colton, Henry 
 Gower, and y*" other Clergymen officiating there. Be- 
 ginning November y'= 4"" 1700." 
 
 "February 1717, 10"'. John Green, Batch. House Carpenter of 
 
 anxious to impose on the ignorant by as much attention to ' rites and ceremonies' as 
 was consistent with their own interests, thus : 
 
 On a trial for Bigamy, in 1731, Samuel Pickering deposed "the prisoner was 
 married at my house in the Fleet, to Wr. Humphreys, by Mr. Mortram a clergy- 
 man. I gave her away, and saw the ring put upon her hand, and broice the biscuit 
 over her head." 
 
 And on the trial of Robert Wilson, in 1737, for Bigamy, a witness deposed, " I 
 know the prisoner was married to Steel, I was present when that affair was trans- 
 acted. They were married at a brandy shop at the Fleet ; tiie ceremony was per- 
 formed by a man in a tiiuht gourt ; whether he was a parson or not, T can't tell." 
 (S'p.ss/o^s Papers.) 
 
«9 
 
 St. Dunstans Stepney, and Elizabeth Fclton, Spinster, of St. Mary 
 White Cliappell. 
 
 not married because not agreeing with y*^ Doctor." 
 
 No. lOG. A short folio. On the first page, " Christnings 
 by D'^ Draper ;" on the second page, " Marridges in v* 
 year of our Lord 1714."" 
 
 "John Harrison, of St. Giles in the Fields, a Taylor, and Mary 
 Cunighani, Ditto. B. W. June y^ 4, 1723. These not niarr: 
 only names inserted." 
 
 "Memorandum. The 2r' day of August 1725, being Saturday 
 at night was assaulted by Samuel Pickering, at his own house the 
 signe of the Fighting Cocks, in Fleet Lane, and he throatled me 
 and most murdered me, as 
 
 Witness my Hand, John Evans, Minister."' 
 
 No. 110. A short folio, intituled, *•' Marriages at the Fleet 
 By Henry Glover, Clerk, November y" 1"' An" Do"' 
 1716." 
 
 " 1728 April 3. Michael Rebout & Ann Surgeirs, Both of St. 
 Clement's Deans. P. Jn" Floud Min"^. 
 
 N.B. The Certificate bears date 12 Sep'^ )^ 
 1720, to satisfie Parents and friends." J 
 
 No. 118. A short narrow folio. 
 
 " January 20, 1729-30. John Pigott, of St. Martins Orgars, 
 London, Captain of a West Indian Merchant, Bachl' & Constantia 
 Maria Burgoyne, of the P**" of St. Martin'sin y"" fields, in y* County 
 of Middx, Spinster, married at Justice Webster's, in Castle Street, 
 over y* Mews, in St. Martin's afores**." 
 
 No. 119. A short thick folio, Sept. 1734 to Sept. 1736. 
 
 ' The many opposition INIarriage-houses, the plying for custom, and scrambling 
 for fees, gave rise to repeated quarrels. The following is from the Grub Street 
 Journal, Dec. 12, 1734. 
 
 " On Wednesday two Fleet Parsons preferred against each other 
 Bills of indictment for assaults made by brother upon brother. 
 But they appearing aggressors and scholars alike famous, 
 The Jury returned both their bills ' Ignoramus.' " 
 
90 
 
 " May y' 14, 17:3G. .Jolui Blackball, of St. Martin's in y' Fields, 
 Cloginaker, 6v: Hannah Cockerell, B & Widow at y' King's 
 
 Head Henry Charlton, Clark. — N Cert: under £2. 
 
 Wigmore being sent for, but was drunk, so I was a stop-gap." 
 "July 18, 1736. William Potts, of Allhallows, Barkin, Wine 
 Cooper & Mary Small, D° B & Sp' at Wilson's 
 
 a sham I believe as to his name, because 
 he told me another name first, and y* woman contradicted him." 
 
 No. 136. A short folio of Walter Wyatt's. 
 
 '• Lyonel B' & Jane, a Lady, B & Sp' at Webb's, Esq. 
 
 at Cornhill, in White Lyon Court.— Oct. 19, 1735.' 
 
 No. 14». A short folio. 
 
 " 1 Oct. 1747. John Ferren, Gent. Ser. of St. Andrew's, Hol- 
 born, B"^ & Deborah Nolan, D' Sp\ The supposed John Ferren 
 was discovered after y*" Ceremonie were over, to be in person a 
 woman." 
 
 " 27 Dec' 1747. Francis Harwood, Feltmaker, of St. Botolph 
 without Bishopsgate, B' & Mary Brockholes, Widow. 
 
 After marr : I perceived it to be a Hird Job} He a thin-jaw'd 
 mean-looking fellow, Irish or Scotch, she gravida'^ and very gent." 
 
 " May 30"" 1748. A genteel cuple married with a br' stamp, 
 enter'd in a parchment cover pocket-book with Pri on y^ Backs'*."' 
 
 " Edward Warner, Gent, of Crundal, Hants, & Mary Mitchell, 
 W— 3 Jan. 1749. £10. 10. " 
 
 No. 156. A short folio, " W. Wyatt's Register Book of the 
 Fleet Marriages commencing June 25, 1751 to Mids' 
 1752." The entries are numbered, (1137 in all,) and 
 there is an index. 
 
 ' See pages 82, 83, for other instances of hired Husbands. 
 
 * " Yesterday morning an odd affair happened in the Liberties of the Fleet, 
 where a young man and woman, (country people, and very well dressed,) came to 
 be marry'd ; but before the minister iiad half performed the ceremony, the woman 
 was delivered of a daughter. (This poor girl, though literally born in wedlock, 
 seems to be somewhat more than half a bastard,") — Gruh Street Journal, 1735. 
 
 •' These blank entries in the Registers make the small pocket-books valuable, 
 as without them tiic parties cotild not be known. — (See note at ]i. 76.) 
 
01 
 
 470 
 1. 4i. 
 
 Nov' 11 
 1751. 
 Pri' 
 
 No. 158. On the cover of this Register are two entries 
 " never to be seen."" 
 
 Gent. & Mary at Georgia, 
 
 By jNP Wilkinson. 
 
 No. 161. A short folio, June 1745 to June 1747 
 
 " July 24, 1745. James 
 near Hanipstead. 
 5. 5. 
 
 5. for a horse." 
 " April -23, 1746. Joseph 
 
 and Mary vide July 3'' Ult."^ 
 
 " Aug* 22, 1746. Samuel & Eliz: He a tall man 
 
 about 40 years of age, she a fresh colour'd Poek fretten woman, 
 very well built." 
 
 No. 164. A small quarto, from 1700 to 1730, and at the 
 other end from 1715 to 1742. 
 
 " 1723, 14 April. Peter Hulett of St. Bride's, Fram Maker, 
 Mary Ann Paviour, Sp . forged by Mr. Dare, in 1741, who married 
 y'" att Smith's att y* same time." 
 
 No. 167. A small quarto. 
 
 " Nov' 28, 1 723. John James Jaxon & Mary Newell, both of 
 St. James's, West' B' & Sp'. 
 
 " Memorandum. Mr. Fairplay he called himselfe, would not say 
 * I will,' nor did she bee he did not — both afterwards comply'd, 
 & so were married, tho y^ man designed nothing but a little 
 w g & leaving y* woman in y* lurch." 
 
 No. 170. A small quarto, 1731 to 1732. 
 
 " May 15, 1732. John & Ann, Brought by one Willson, a 
 
 > See note 3, p. 90. 
 
 2 Upon looking back to the 3(1 of July, the following entry appears interlined, 
 and vviiich is, of course, a false entry. 
 
 " July 31, 1745. Joseph Garratt, Halter, of St. James, W , & Mary Jackson, 
 
92 
 
 Limb of y*" Law, & married at Mr. Willson's by y'' Ditch Syde, & 
 never entered in any Booke, Refusing to pay Clarkship and y" Entry 
 Fees any Othcrways than by y" name of Jn" and Ann." 
 
 No. 209- A long narrow book, from 1738 to 1744-. 
 
 " Living near to one Joshua Lilley, and a person troublesome, 
 I agreed to marry none at home, upon condition I married all 
 y' came to his house " (Ash well.) 
 
 " 28 Ap' 1740. Henry Mercer, of Lusam, late of Abinger, in 
 Kent, Gent. Bat% &^ Jane Sparrow, Ditto, Wid'", at Crumpton's. 
 N.B. This last marriage was to be kept as a secret, the Lady 
 having a joynture during the time she continued Wid"." 
 
 No. 210. Ditto, from 1734 to 1738. 
 
 "Novby^24, 1733, att y^ Baptizd bed Tavern to go to Mr. 
 Gibbs for to marry him in y^ countrey. — Wife worth £18,000." 
 
 No. 212. Ditto, from 1744 to 1745. 
 
 " 22 Aug' 1744. Rob* Parker, Labourer, of Yocl, in Surry, & 
 Hannah Horton, of D"B' & Sp, at the Shepherd li- Goat. 
 
 N.B. The officers of the Parish took y^ fellow up by Warrant 
 to force him to marry her — vile behav'd," 
 
 " Sept' 5, 1744. Andrew Mills, Gent, of the Temple, & Char- 
 lotte Gaillairdy, of St. Mildred, Poultry, at Mr. Boyce's, King's 
 Head. N.B. One gentleman came first in a merry manner to 
 make a bargain w*"" the Minister for the marriage, and immediately 
 came the parties themselves disguising their dress by contrivances 
 particularly buttning up the coat, because the rich wastecoat 
 should not be seen, (Src." 
 
 "2.5 September 1744. Thomas Games, Carpenter, of St. Mar- 
 tin's in the Fields, and Lucy Hern, D° B' & Sp. 
 
 N.B. I examined them strickly, seeing a dirty fellow w"" long 
 beard, and was afraid it was done as a skreen fr" Debt." 
 
 " December 4, 1744. Charlton Leighton, of the parish of Over- 
 burry, in Shropshire, Gent, (belonging to y* Hon*"'^ Collonel Cot- 
 terel's Reg') B', & Anna Maria Mytton, of Conouer, in y same 
 County, Gentlewoman, Spinster. 
 
 N.B. Two Gentlemen directed me to meet them at y^ Vine 
 Tavern, Upper Turn Stile, Holborn. After waiting 2 hours a foot- 
 
93 
 
 man came S: call'd me to another house below, after very stict 
 examination, 1 proceeded to marry them as aj)[)ears.'' 
 
 " May 2, 1745. Jolm Harrowson, of the Duke Man of War, & 
 Susainiah Lawson, Sp. at Burnford's. 
 
 this s'' Harrowson swore most bitterly, & was pleas'd to say 
 that he was fully determined to kill y^ Minister S:c. y' married him. 
 N.B. He came from Gravesend & was sober." 
 
 " 26 Feb. 1745. Rob' Tayler & Marg' came into 
 
 my own appartment, behav'd very rudely, swore sadly, oblig'd me 
 to marry them for what they pleas'd for fear of my life, late at 
 night, by the names above-mention'd " 
 
 "June y* 12"' 1745. Challen Miller, Gent, of y" parish of 
 Horsham, in Sussex, Batch', & Eiizab"" Parham, of the same. 
 Spinster. — N. B. A clerg}^man whose name was the Rev'' Mr. 
 Cheynell came to the Fountain Tavern, on Ludgate Hill, & wanted 
 a Minister to converse with, as then was pleas'd to say. — When 
 I came to him it was togoe with him to the Royal Oak, near Vaux- 
 hall, to marry a couple, viz. Miller, which he said he would have 
 done it himself but was apprehensive he might offend some 
 Friends, he himself living in y' neighbourhood, but he would stand 
 Father, and accordingly did do so." 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM SOME OF THE POCKET-BOOKS. 
 
 " Nov"" 1741, 5"". John King, of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, Car- 
 penter, B. Diana Nicholson, Do. Sp. — Done at his house, Maiden 
 Lane, she sick in bed." 
 
 1737. Temple W^est, Gent. & Frances Balchen, "not to be 
 registered in y" yearly Book." 
 
 "April 14, 1737. W'" Evrett & Sarah Brunell, ' at my Slioe- 
 makers.' " 
 
 "Aug. 14, 1718. Offer'd 5 guineas to enter Walter Borthwick, 
 of Waltham Stone, Gent: Ann Sharpless, D°. B. Sp. — Feb. 4, 
 1714." 
 
 " Hary Porter, Higler at Leadenhall Market, married by a rong 
 name to draw him." 
 
 "April 18, 1745. R** Humphris, of St. James's, Grosvenor Sq. 
 B. & Eliz"' Greenwood, of St. James's, Clerkenwell, Wd". 
 in a cellar under the Fountain." J. G. 
 
 " Ganderwaine, of Woolwich, a man of note, and brings wedings 
 to the Fleet, Sailors, &c." 
 
94 
 
 NAMES OF SOME OF THE PERSONS MARRIED AT THE FLEET, 
 EXTRACTED FROM THE REGISTERS. 
 
 B. Baclielor. — S. Spinster. — \V. Widower, Widow. — Ditto, same parisli as tiie 
 
 Husband. 
 
 22 May 1722. James Abernethy, Esq. St. Margarets, Westminster, 
 & Anne Rachael Nicholas, Maidstone, B. & S. 
 G May 1724. Right Hon. Edward Lord Abergavenny,^ and Cath. 
 Tatton, B. and S. 
 
 17 Ap. 1740. John Acton, Furnivalls Inn, Gent, and Ann Barker, 
 St. Andrew's Holborn, S. 
 
 2 Feb. 1747. Thomas Adams, Gt. Aldingham, Herts, and Sarah 
 
 Howard, W. and W. 
 G Feb. 1714. Matthew Addams, Gt. and E!iz. Warberton, St. 
 
 Giles's, B. and S. 
 14 Mar. 1730. John Addams, Gt. St. Giles's Fields, and Jane Row- 
 
 lett, St. Martin's Fields, W. and W. 
 30 Jan. 1718. John Adams, Attorney, St. Dunstan's, and Phillis 
 
 York, Whitefriars, B. and S. 
 25 Mar. 1754. Phil. Adams, Gt. Covent Garden, and Eliz. Upton, 
 
 St. Margarets, B. and S. 
 
 14 Oct. 1750. Lewis Augustus Alexander, Tooting, Gt. and Anne 
 
 Dines, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 21 Ap. 1726. Harley Allen, Croydon, & Mary Newbury, Ditto. 
 IG Aug. 1721. Michael Alphe, Surgeon, Berwick-on-Tweed, and 
 
 Anne Bennett, Cath. Cree Church, W. and S. 
 
 3 Feb. 1734. Peter Annett, Gt. and Eliz. Mobs. 
 
 15 July 1732. Matt. Appleford, Gent. Duke of Bolton's Horse, and 
 
 Jane Lee, Aylesbury, B. and S. 
 
 4 Oct. 1719. Joseph Aram, Surgeon, Tunbridge, and Ann Har- 
 
 butt, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 22 June 1746. James Archibald, Gt. Waltham Abbey, and Mary 
 
 King, B. and S. 
 15 Feb. 1735. John Arnold, Gt. St. Martin's Fields, & Eliz. Bow- 
 
 yer. Ditto, B. and S. 
 14 Feb. 1722. Allen Ascough, Esq. Hayes, & Eliz. Merick, Ditto, 
 
 W. and S. 
 
 ' Obiit 9th October, same year, and slio afterwards re -married his cousin and 
 successor, William Lord Abergavenny. 
 
95 
 
 1 Nov. 1740. Peter Aslienliurst, Gent. 1st Regt. Foot, and Eliz. 
 
 Ishani, Aldgate, B. and W. 
 
 6 Mar. 1735. John Aspe)>wall, Gt. St. Giles's, and Ann Johnson, 
 
 Do. B. and S. 
 
 2 Ap. 1752. John Atwood, Gt Abchurch, & Ami Bowler, B. <!v S. 
 10 June 1735. Phillip Avery, St. Bride's, and Ann Ayres, Holborn, 
 
 B. and S. (Licence.) 
 14 May 1G94. Joshua Aylworth, Aylworth, Glouc: and Dorcas 
 Cook, B. and S. 
 
 22 June 1690. Wm. Badham, Gent. St. James's, and Sus. Longdon, 
 
 B. and S. 
 
 7 Ap. 1736. Wm. Bainbrigg, St. John's Westminster, Gent, and 
 
 Joana Taylor, St. Giles's Fields, B. and S. 
 
 4 Dec. 1735, Wm. Balfour, Gent. Holborn, and Alice Covvdcry, 
 
 Benfield, Essex, B. and S. 
 7 Oct. 1718. John Balfore, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Mary Price, 
 Ditto, B. and W. 
 30 Aug. 1738. John Ballard, Gent. St. Alban's, and Eliz. Buss, 
 South Mimms, W. and W. 
 
 23 May 1742. Francis Bailey, Gent. St. James's, and Eliz. Farrer, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 9 Jan. 1748. John Bailly Gt. St. George's Hanover Square, and 
 
 Ann Standrod, B. and S. 
 25 Mar. 1754. Chas. Bailey, Gt. St. Martin's Fields, & Ann Rives, 
 
 B. and S. 
 22 Sept. 1743. Thomas Bamfield, Esq. Chelsea, and Eliz. Copple- 
 
 stone, Old Windsor, B. and S. 
 28 Ap. 1736. Joseph Bampton, Gent. Cheney Bucks, and Mary 
 
 Combs, W. and W. 
 
 5 June 1733. Fs. Barrs, Gt. Epping, & Cath, Wentworth, W. & W. 
 30 Nov. 1735. John Bartram, Gent, and Mary Starkey, St. John's, 
 
 Westminster, W. and W. 
 18 Mar. 1747. Wm. Bartley, Gent. & Susannah Church, B. & S. 
 18 Feb. 1728. Chris. Barker, St. Geo. Hanover Square, and Mary 
 
 Fox, St. James's, B. and S. 
 
 20 Jan. 1731. Daniel Barker, Lewston, Bedfordshire, Gt. t'v- Ann 
 
 Barker, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 3 Oct. 1748. Thomas Bartlett, Gt. Reading, & My. Peel, B. t-v- W. 
 
 21 Ap. 1741. Rd. Thomas Barrington, Herts, and Esther Rigway, 
 
 Stafport, Cheshire, B. & W. 
 
90 
 
 3 July 1720. Stephen Batemaii, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Mar- 
 garet Francis Blainville, Ditto, I), and S. 
 
 5 July 1742. Chambers Bate, Gent. Foston, Derbyshire, and Ann 
 
 Trye, Anmey, Gloucestershire, S. 
 3 Feb. 1749. TEneas Baynes, Gent. St. James's, & Isabella Elwes, 
 B. and S. 
 
 19 Nov. 1736. Isaac Beaufills, Gent. St. Antholins, and llache De- 
 
 la-cart, B. and S. 
 
 6 Ap. 1741. David Becellor, Surgeon, Holborn, & Sarah Parker, 
 
 Ditto, S. 
 29 June 1735. Isaac Beeke, Gt. St. George's Hanover Square, and 
 
 Christian Walker, B. and S. 
 31 Oct. 1729. Grosvenor Bedford Gt. St. Mary-le-Strand, & Jane 
 
 Fox, ditto, S. 
 
 25 July, 1742. Wm. Beech, Apoth. St. Martin's Fields, and Eliz. 
 
 Warrilow, Allhallows, London Wall, B. and S. 
 
 20 Jan. 1734. James Beltile, Gt. Chelsea, and Anne Sadler, St. 
 
 Giles's, B. and W. 
 12 Oct. 1735. Ephraim Bell, Gt. Inner Temple, and Frs. Harrison, 
 
 B. and S. 
 16 Aug. 1743. Thomas Bellamy, Gt. Kingston, Surrey, and Ann 
 
 Lomax, St. Alban's, B. and S. 
 20 Sept. 1722. Stringer Belcher, Gt. Soho, and Sarah Champneis, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 26 Jan. 1 734. John Benson, Gt. East Grinstead, and Eliz. Groom- 
 
 bridge, Horsham, B. and S. 
 
 24 Mar. 1733. John Bennett, Surgeon, St. Martin's Fields, and 
 
 Anne Hartell, W, and W. 
 
 10 Mar. 1754. Montague Berman, Gent. Cornhill, and Eliz. Short, 
 
 Hampstead, B. and S. 
 
 25 Mar. 1715. John Berkeley, Gt St. Martin's, and Eliz. Bridges, 
 
 St. Clement's, B. and S. 
 
 1 1 Feb. 1 734. Robert Berry, Gt. Holborn, & Mary Johnson, B. &W. 
 19 Oct. 1742. Capell Berrow, Clk. Aldcrsgate,& Eliz. Smith, B. c>v- S. 
 25 May 1737. John Evans, Bewley, St. Clement Danes, and Eliz. 
 
 Miller, St. Giles's Fields, B. and W. 
 9 Jan. 1745. Thomas Biggs, Gt. Horse Guards, and Eliz. Roden, 
 B. and W. 
 
 12 June 1735. Edmund Billings, Gent. St. Martin's, Ironmonger 
 
 Lane, and Eliz. Johnson, St. James's, B. and W. 
 
97 
 
 JO Aug. 1745. Kobert Bird, Gent. Bloomsbury, and Eliz. Roberts, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 7 June 1734. Geo. Bishop, Atty. Holborn, & Ann Evans, B. & S. 
 13 June 1749. Joseph Bissell, Gent. St. Peter's, Oxon, and Sarah 
 
 Covvper, Worcestershire, B. and S. 
 26 Oct. 1733. W. Bland, Gt. St. Albans, & Mary Chester, B. & S. 
 15 June 1742. Phillip Blinch, Gent. Bidiford, Devon, and Eliz. 
 
 Gery, Northampton, B. and S. 
 
 26 Dec. 1744. Sir John Bloy, St. Gregory's, Feltmaker, B. and 
 
 Anne Moore, St. Olave's, Surrey. 
 7 Nov. 1742. Thomas Boadish, Gent. Holborn, and Carew Tate, 
 St. Paul, Covent Garden, W. and S. 
 
 27 Sept. 1736. Robert Bonnass, Gent. Marylebone, and Elizabeth 
 
 Chessall, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 10 Aug. 1742. Don Dominicus Bonaventura, Baron of Spitcrii, 
 
 Abbot of St. Mary in Praeto Notary, Chaplain 
 
 of Hon. to the King of the Two Sicilies, 
 
 and Knight of the Order of St. Salvator, St. 
 
 James's, and Martha Alexander, Ditto, B. & S. 
 
 4 Dec. 1734. Richard Bond, Gt. St. Saviour's, and Mary Dearing, 
 
 Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 26 July 1746. Jos. Bonquett, Gt. Aldgate, and Eliz. Elves, B. & S. 
 
 9 Oct. 1718. Robert Booth, Gent. Westminster, and Christian 
 
 Knight, Ditto, W. and S. 
 4 Oct. 1734. Edward Botterell, Gent. Aldgate, and Eliz. Pres- 
 
 grave. Ditto, B. and S. 
 9 Feb. 1746. Jessup Boughton, Gent. Huntingdon, and Eliz. 
 Wlx, St. James's, B. and S. 
 20 Jan. 1729. "The Honourable John Bourke, Esq."' of Great 
 
 Ormond Street, and Cath. Hamilton, W. 
 10 June 1722. Lewis Bowen, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Anne 
 
 Knowlis, St. Lawrence, B. and W. 
 13 June 1751. Geprge Bowles, Gent. St. James's, and Mary Van- 
 
 dryck, Kensington, B. and S. 
 4 Oct. 1742. William Bowers, Gent. Sherbarne, Oxon, and Sarah 
 Holt, B. and S. 
 
 » Afterwards John, eighth Viscount Mayo, to whicli title lie succeeded in 1743, 
 and died in 1767. She was the daughter and heir of Major Whitgift vVylmer, 
 
 and widow of Hamilton, of the county of Galway. 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 G July 1735. Dominick Boyle, Ireland, and Ann Malian, Ditto. 
 
 5 April 1741. Robert Brabant, Gent. Blandford, Dorset, and Eliz. 
 
 Lawrence, Buckland in Ditto, B. and S. 
 2 Dec. 1741. Thos. Bradley, Gent. Horse Grenadiers, and Mary 
 Bedford, Hemel Hempstead, B. and S. 
 
 6 June 1722. Radcllff Bradley, Gent. St. Margaret's, & Winifred 
 
 Clark, Ditto, W. and W. " private." 
 22 June 1736. Silas Bradshaw, Gent, and Mary Fere, St. Marga- 
 ret's, Westminster, W. and S. 
 
 26 April 1733. Joseph Bradshaw, Gent, and Sarah Barton, B.&S. 
 2 Feb. 1737. William Bray, Gent. St. Ann's Blackfriars, and 
 
 Hannah Ward, St. James's. 
 
 30 Mar. 1725. Robert Bray, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and Sarah 
 
 Grey, Ditto, B. and S. 
 24 Oct. 1720. John Bretorius, M.D. St. James's, and Eliz. 
 
 Vaughan, St. Ann's Westminster, W. and W. 
 18 Feb. 1728. Phillip Brien, Gent. St. Giles's, and Barbara Salvell, 
 
 Ditto, W. and W. 
 
 27 Nov. 1720. Nathaniel Bridgman, Attorney, St. Ann's, and Eliz. 
 
 Blackbrow, Ditto, W. and W. 
 
 7 Nov. 1721. George Bridges, Gent. Whitechapel, and Barbara 
 
 Brignall, Ditto. 
 
 31 Aug. 1739. John Brook, Gent. Norwich, and Cath. Watson, 
 
 Ashby, Leicester, B. and S. 
 6 July 1724. John Brooke,' Gent. St. Peter's, Norwich, and Cath. 
 
 Watson, of Ashley, Leicester, B. and S. 
 31 Oct. 1740. Peter Brooke, Gent. Cobham, Surrey, and Mary 
 
 Godson, B. and S. 
 29 June 1735. Isaac Brooke, Gent. St. George's Hanover Square, 
 
 and Christian Walker, B. and S. 
 17 July 1751. Edward Broom, Gent. Middle Temple, and Mary 
 
 Maria Joyce, Ditto. S. 
 2 Aug. 1721. Richard Brocas, Gent. Westminster, and Eliz. 
 
 Grice, Ditto, B. and S. 
 20 Sept. 1735. Francis Brown, Gent. St. Clement Danes, and 
 
 Martha Izard, Ditto. 
 9 April 1735. William Brown, Gent. Aldermanbury, and Jane 
 
 Brown, Widow of John Brown, Gent, of Ditto. 
 
 ' Query. If this marriage was not performed in 1739, and registered under 
 that date, as well as under 1724 ? See note at page 80, on the practice of 
 antedating. 
 
99 
 
 2 April 1752. Christopher Browne, Esq. B. and Lydia Knight, S. 
 
 12 July 1721. Cheync Brownjohn, Gent. Harrow, and Eli/. Par- 
 
 tridge, Ditto, B. and S. 
 10 April 1736. Walter Bruce, Gent. Chatham, and Ann Short, 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 3 April 1728. William Brummell, Gent. St. Bride's, and Sarah 
 
 Clark, Ditto, S. 
 
 25 Mar. 1754. John Bruere, Gent. Holhorn, and Rosalinda Black- 
 
 bourne, Soho, S. 
 
 21 July 1733. Wm. Buckle, Gent. Holborn, and Eliz. Collier, Hen- 
 don, W. and W. 
 
 30 July 1753. Wm. Buchanan, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Margaret 
 Sutherland, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 13 Aug. 1736. John Buchanan, Gent. Woolwich, and Mary Hose, 
 
 Ditto, W. and W. 
 
 12 May 1742. Jno. Burdett, Gt. St. Luke's, & My. Planner,B.& W. 
 
 10 Aug. 1735. Wm.Bullock, Gent.Coleman Street, and Eliz. Good- 
 win, B. and S. 
 
 26 Aug. 1702. Fras. Burghill and Grace Corney, daughter of Leo- 
 
 nard Williams, Esq. of Halton Halgate, Lin- 
 coln, B. and W. 
 — Nov. 1732. William Burbidge, Gent. Tumby, Lincolnshire, and 
 
 Eliz. Burrows, S. 
 18 Sept. 1722. Richard Burridge, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Chry- 
 
 silla Stevenson, St. Clement's, W. and W. 
 23 Aug. 1713. William Burgon, Gent, and Ann Johnson, Covent 
 
 Garden, B. and S. 
 2 Sept. 1735. Richard Burgoyne, Gent. Cornwall, and Ursula 
 
 Eades, W. and S. 
 1744. John Burch, Gent. St. George's, Southwark, and 
 
 Ann Rowland, Ditto, B. and S. 
 22 Feb. 1744. William Burnee, Gent. St. Martin's, and Susannah 
 
 Stanley, B. and S. 
 17 June 1730. Charles Burton, Gent. St. George's, and Ann 
 
 Cooper, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 6 Dec. 1742. Richard Butler, Surgeon, Eastry, Kent, and Anne 
 
 Wood, Woodnesborough, B. and W. 
 
 7 April 1732. Thomas Butler, Attorney, St. Dunstan's, and Eliz. 
 
 Eaton, B. and S. 
 20 Oct. 1 740. Dan. Byrne, Gt. St. James's, & Mary Woolley, W. & S. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 
 
 22 June 1733, Richard Calcott, Gent. St Giles's, and EHz, Sutton, 
 B. and W. 
 
 12 Nov. 1716. Richard Doidge Callington, Esq. and Mary Mana- 
 ton, South Hill, B. and S. 
 
 22 June 1747. Andrew Cameron, Gent. Furness, and Sarah Mc- 
 Duggan, B. and W. 
 2 Aug. 1748. Charles Campbell, Gent. Suttonbenjar, Wilts, and 
 Sarah Toms, B. and S. 
 
 18 Feb. 1750. John Carey, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and Katha- 
 rine Douglas, W. and S. 
 
 16 Feb. 1719. George Carey, Gent. Aldersgate, and Eliz. Reason, 
 St. James's, B. and W. 
 
 16 Jan. 1746. William Carney, Gent. Hanover Square, and Jane 
 Lincoln, Ditto, B. and S. 
 4 Nov. 1727, William Carrington, Gent. St. James's, and Honor 
 Hillman, W. and S. 
 
 21 Mar. 1754. William Carrington, Gent. Teverton, Salop, and 
 Francis Holt, B. and W. 
 8 Feb. 1719. Moses Cendell, Gent. St. Giles's, and Mary Daw- 
 son, St. Ann's, W. and W. 
 
 12 June 1728. Henry Champante, Gent. Gray's Inn, and Juditha 
 
 Maria Troughton, Holborn, B. and S, 
 
 13 Nov. 1735, William Chancellor, Gent. St. ?.jargaret*s West- 
 
 minster, and Elizabeth Kennedy, W. and S. 
 6 Dec, 1720, Geo. Chapman, Gent. St, Margaret's, Westminster, 
 and Ann Park, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 8 Jan. 1721. Solomon Chelwood, Attorney, St. Andrew's, and 
 
 Susannah Parker, Islington, B. and S. 
 
 24 Aug. 1738. John Chester, St. Paul's, Covent Garden, and Eli- 
 
 zabeth Chester,' Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 25 Feb. 1744. John Chetwood, Gent. Wellington, Somerset, and 
 
 Susannah Kettleby, W. and W. 
 16 Jan. 1733. John Church, Chemist, Lambeth, and Mary Faith- 
 full, St. Clement Danes, W. and S. 
 
 9 Feb. 1708. Walter Cicil, Gent, and Lucy Greenlcaf, B. and S. 
 8 Oct, 1738. James Clayton, Gent, Chichester, and Ann Parker, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 ' Dorn 17 August 1719, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir William Ches- 
 ter, of Chicheley, co. Bucks, Part. 
 
101 
 
 4 Mar. 1744. John Clayton, Estj. Must, Berks, and Sarah Brown- 
 
 ing, St. Lawrence, Walthani, B. and S. 
 
 5 Sept. 1734, White Clayton, Gent. St. Clement Danes, and 
 
 Hannah (jrissell. Ditto, B. and S. 
 27 Dec. 1747. Robert Coker, Gent. Cripplegate, and Ann Fowler, 
 B. and S. 
 
 10 Sept. 1739. John Coleman, Gent. Holborn, and Mary Terry, 
 
 Chigwell, B. and S. 
 
 11 Aug. 1736. Henry Collins, Chirurgeon, Chatham, and Mary 
 
 Hollingsbery, Ditto, W. and W. 
 29 April 1742. George Coles, Gent. Kinlat, Salop, and Sarah 
 Williams, Sedbury, B. and VV. 
 
 29 July 1720. Francis Colman, Esq. St. James's, and Sarah Gum- 
 
 ley, Ditto, B. and S. 
 19 May 1740. Edward Compton, Gent. St. Luke's, Middlesex, 
 and Mary Young, Ditto, W. and S. 
 
 30 July 1735. Barnard Compton, Gent. St. Bride's, and Margaret 
 
 Morris, Ditto. 
 
 13 May 1718. Col. Thomas Condon, P' Reg'. Guards, and Eliza- 
 
 beth Mellish, St, James's, B. and S. 
 
 19 Jan. 1737, John Conningham, Gent. St. James's, and Mary 
 
 Crafts, Ditto, B. and S. 
 30 July 1743, John Conyer, Gent. St. James's, and Sarah Wood, 
 
 St. Andrew's Holborn, B, and S. 
 23 Feb, 1749. Peirce Cook, Gent. St. James's, and Sarah Wood, 
 
 Holborn, B. and S. 
 17 May 1735. William Cook, Gent, St. George's Hanover Square, 
 
 and Ann Hook, B. and S. 
 
 12 Mar. 1754. Richard Cooper, Gent. Beaconsfield, and Eliz. 
 
 Shank, B. and S. 
 23 Aug. 1732. John Cope, Gent, and Susannah Clarke, both of 
 
 Clapham, W. and S. 
 10 June 1750. John Copley, Gent. St. Dunstan's East, and Hannah 
 
 Simkins, B. and S. 
 
 20 Feb. 1721. Roger Copin, Gent. St. Andrew's, and Eliz. Linley, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 14 Jan. 1734. Thomas Cornelius, Gent Rotherhithe, and Hester 
 
 Green, B. and S. 
 4 Sept. 1734. James Corbet, Gent. St. Paul's Covent Garden, and 
 Eliz. Weit, St. Ann's Westminster, W. and S. 
 
102 
 
 23 April 1751. Archelaus Courtany, Gent. Chelsea, and Grace 
 Annett, W. 
 
 28 Jan. 1 73-. Hercules Courteney, Esq. St. James's, and Margaret 
 Drysdale, Ditto, S. 
 
 25 Aug. 1734. Tayler Courtman, Gent. St. Mary-le-Strand, and 
 Hannah Powney, Ditto, B. and S. 
 4 Jan. 1738. Samuel Cox, Gent. St. George's Hanover Square, 
 and Rosamond Friend, B. and S. 
 
 18 May 1720. Charles Crofton, Gent. Newport, Bucks, and Bar- 
 bara Benn, Covent Garden. 
 
 25 Aug. 1735. William Crony, Gent. St. James's, and Mary Ran- 
 
 dall, St. Botolph's Aldgate, W. and W. 
 16 Sept. 1730. William Crotty, Gent. St. James's, and MaryFitz- 
 garet. Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 10 July 1733. George Crowder, Gent. Clerkenwell, and Eliz. Lis- 
 
 ter, B. and S. 
 
 11 Aug. 1746. James Crumpton, Gent. Light Horse, and Mary 
 
 Caruthers, Iver, B. and S. 
 9 Jan. 1738. John Cullen, Gt. St. Peter's Canterbury, and Ann 
 
 Morgan, St. Andrew's Ditto, B. and S. 
 14 April 1736. Tempest CuUiford, Gent. Chelsea, and Eliz. Day, 
 
 B. and S. 
 3l May 1733. Robert Cuningham, 2"^ Reg' Guards, and Sarah 
 
 Montgomery, B. and S. 
 
 10 Feb. 1719. Alexander Cunison, Gent. St. Martin's, and Jane 
 
 Quint, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 1 1 June 1 737. William Cundell, Gent. St. Bride's, and Sarah Bathe, 
 
 St. Martin's Fields, W. and S. 
 11 Feb. 1748. Alexander Currie, Gent. St. James's, and Eliz. 
 Edwards, W. and S. 
 
 8 July 1736. Charles Dairy mplc, Apoth. St. George's Hanover 
 Square, and Elizabeth Prince, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 13 Feb. 1719. Jas.Daly,Gt. St. Clem.& Eliz. Readmell, Do.B.c^- S. 
 
 1 1 Jan. 1734. Charles Daniel, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and Sarah 
 Warner, B. and S. 
 
 27 Sept. 1743. George Daniel, Gt. Westm. & Sarah Jones, B. & S. 
 
 21 Aug. 1738. Nicholas Urbain Guillou Darmenonville, Gent. St. 
 Ann's W^est. and Marsanne Conche, Do. B. & S. 
 
 26 Oct. 1743. Abraham Davis, Gent. Falmouth, and Grace Lewis, 
 
 B. and S. 
 
103 
 
 28 July 1753. George Davis, (Jlcnt. Chelsea, and Sarah Nash, St. 
 
 James's, W. and W. 
 
 18 Feb. 1735. John Davis, Gt. St. James's, and Mary (ireen, Do. 
 9 Aug. 174:2. Francis Davison, Gent Lisbon, and Elizabeth Tich- 
 
 borne, Uotherhithe, 13. and W. 
 
 16 April 1727. Andrew Davison, Gent. Kirk Newton, co. North- 
 
 umberland, and Rachel Mason, St. Saviour's 
 Southwark, B. and S. 
 1 Jan. 1721. Robt. Daven, Gent. Maidstone, and Grace How, 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 22 Jan. 1732. Sherrington Davenport, Esq. Davenport House, 
 
 Salop, and Gratiana Rodd, Hereford, S. 
 9 Sept. 1749. Thomas Davidson, Gent. Ealing, and Sarah Fisher, 
 Bloomsbury, B. and S. 
 
 17 April 1752. John Dawes, Esq. Tunbridge Wells, and Lydia 
 
 Clarke, B. and S. 
 7 April 1752. Sam. Day, Surg. Whitech. & Esther Turner, Do. S. 
 
 29 Aug. 1733. Lewis Deane, Gt. Clerkenwell, & Mary Lee, B. & S. 
 10 Mar. 1729. Anthony Deane, Gent. St. Clement's, and Mary 
 
 Hindrick, St. Sepulchre's, B. and S. 
 5 Feb. 1721. Wm. Dear, Gt. St. Margt's.& Esth. Jones, Do. B.& S. 
 12 Feb. 1730. Peter De Grout, Merchant, Bristow, Somerset, and 
 Isa. Warde, of Porringdon, " in pr. diet." B. & W. 
 
 19 Mar. 1718. Robert Delafontaine, Gent. St. Giles's, and Mary 
 
 Lacy, Ditto, B. and S. 
 7 Mar. 1740. Peter De St. Remye, Gent, St. Ann's Westminster, 
 
 and Anna Hatfield, Ditto, B. and S. 
 26 July 1735. Martin De La Garde, Gent. Bloomsbury, and Betty 
 
 Moore, St. Margaret's, B. and S. 
 29 Oct. 1744. Elias Phillip Delaporte, Gent. St. Andrew's, and 
 
 Catherine Deveil, B. and S. 
 
 23 July 1743, John Baptist Delacormetiere, Gent. Walthamstow, 
 
 and Jane Neftell, B. and W. 
 23 Aug. 1736. Dr. Franciscus Alius Delamar, St. Anne's West- 
 minster, and Mary June, Ditto, B. and S. 
 4 Nov. 1742. John Christr. Vequetin Delutz, Gent. St. James's, 
 and Rose Cath. Roquln, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 18 April 1737. John James Delone, Surgeon, Canterbury, & Judith 
 
 Frimoult, Ditto, B. and S. 
 14 April 1734. Thomas Denison, Apothecary, St. James's, and 
 Katherine Street, Marylebone, B. and S. 
 
104. 
 
 14 Jan. 1737. Benjamin Denby, Surgeon, Walton on Thames, and 
 Elizabeth Fenn, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 31 Aug. 1733. Emilius Depau, Surgeon, Woolwich, and Ann Rey- 
 nolds, W. and S. 
 
 18 Sept. 1751. George Devenport, Esq. and Salle Knight, S. 
 
 3 July 1750. Jas. Devenport, Deptford, & Margt. Allison, B. & S. 
 30 July 1718. " Thomas Deverocks" Esq. and the Lady Elizabeth 
 
 Johnes, B. and S. 
 
 oc T TTo/- /'Andrew Dillon, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and 
 
 25 June 1736. i ' ' 
 
 ) Ann Corbs, St. Giles's Fields, B. and W. 
 
 rk i Andrew Dillon, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and 
 
 Do. Do. ( Hellen Carless, St. Giles's, B. and S. 
 
 21 Nov. 1747. Thomas Dison, Gent. Marylebone, and Mary 
 
 Holmes, B. and S. 
 10 Dec. 1734. John Dodd, Gent. St. Dunstan, and Frances Bate- 
 man, Holborn, W. and S. 
 8 Jan. 1721. Chas. Douglas, Esq. St. Martin's Fields, & Jacabee 
 Moody, St. Margaret's, W. and S. 
 
 6 Jan. 1754. John Down, China Merchant, St. Paul's, Benet's 
 
 Wharf, and Sarah W^oodley, S. 
 
 7 Oct. 1753. Chas. Drummond, Gent. Covent Garden, and Mary 
 
 Cloyde, Ditto, B. and S. 
 16 Sept. 1717. John Duer, Esq. St. James's, and Elizabeth Eyre, 
 St. Clement's, B. and S. 
 
 8 Mar. 1721. John Duffield, Gent. St. Giles's, and Mary Warbur- 
 
 ton, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 29 May 1716. Jn° DufF, Gent. St. Dunst. & Eliz. Hassard, B. & S. 
 20 Feb. 1734. Charles Duglis, Gent, and Elizabeth Hawley, St. 
 
 Martin's Fields, B. and S. 
 
 30 Jan. 1730. John Dumergue, French Master, Holborn, and Maria 
 
 Anna Avuray, St. Ann's, Westminster, B. & S. 
 
 4 Sept. 1734. William Dunn, Gent. AUiiallows Barking, and Eliza- 
 
 beth Ashen, Mile-End, B. and W. 
 2 June 1721. Cornelius Dutry, Escj. Haflen, Holland, and Ger- 
 trude Dutry, Amsterdam, B. and S. 
 
 26 Mar. 1736. James Eclilin, Cient. 3rd Troop of Horse Guards, 
 
 and Ann Murphy, St. Martin's Fields, S. 
 \ April 1719. Nathaniel Edglcy, Chirurgeon, Stepney, and Eliza- 
 beth Watkins, Ditto, B. and S. 
 12 May 1732. Peter Edwards, Gt. St. Mart. \ Sarah Coope, B. & S. 
 
105 
 
 1734. Edward Edwards, (ient. liermondsey, and Constant 
 Wliite, Ditto, W. and J?. 
 4 July 1735. Alexander Elpliinston, Gent. St. James's, and Mary 
 Waring, B. and S. 
 
 11 Aug. 1742. John Elrington, Gent. Holborn, and Mary Calla- 
 
 ghan, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 12 Feb. 1736. Edward Elliott, Clarke, St. James's, and Frances 
 
 Carey, Ditto, B. and S. 
 26 Aug. 1742. Carey Elwes, Gent. Isleworth, and Esther Ewer, 
 
 Richmond, B. and S. (£7. lis. 6d.) 
 19 Mar. 1754. Wm. English, Gent. St. Margaret's West, and Ann 
 
 Saunders, St. George's Hanover Sq. B. and S. 
 18 June 1736. John Emmott, Gent. St. George's Hanover Square, 
 
 and Sarah Clarke, W. and W. 
 30 Mar. 1729. James Esmead, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Elizabeth 
 
 Smith, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 13 Oct. 1735. John Evans, Gent. St. George's Hanover Square, 
 
 and Mary Thompson, Ditto, W. and S. 
 
 11 May 1736. Robert Fabian, Gent. Westm. and Sarah Edwards. 
 15 Mar. 1 747. Rd. Fanshire, Gt. St. Giles's, &: Ann Poynton, B. & S. 
 
 14 July 1742. John Farran, Surgeon, St. Matthew's Friday Street, 
 
 and Sarah Lupton, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 11 Sept. 1743. James Farquharson, Gent. Marylebone, and Susan- 
 nah Watts, St. James's, B. and W. 
 6 July 1736. Chamberlain Fawsett, Gent. High Wickham, and 
 Sarah Day, B. and W. 
 
 13 Mar. 1743. Thomas Fazakerley, Gent, and Eliz. Marshall, S. 
 
 18 Nov. 1737. William Field, Gent. Windsor, and Mary Under- 
 wood, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 24 Sept. 1743. Edward Finch, Gent. Watford, and Sarah Clark, 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 24 May 1737. John Finch, Gent. Brampton, Hunts, and Anne 
 Amey, Caxon, co. Cambridge, B. and S. 
 
 1 1 Aug. 1720. Charles Filmer, Gent. East Sutton, Kent, and Alicia 
 Mills, Maidstone, B. and S. 
 
 28 April 1728. Naylor Fisher, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Elizabeth 
 Collins, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 21 Sept. 1722. John Fitzpatrick, Gent. & Eliz. Lovett, B. c^- S. 
 
 10 Aug. 1718. Maurice Fitzgerald, Gent. St. James's, and Mary 
 Whitfield, St. Martin's, B. and S. 
 
106 
 
 17 April 1749. Garret Fitzgerald, Gent. St. Andrew's, and Mary 
 
 Stillingfleet, B. and W. 
 31 Jan. 1734. Edward Fleming, Gent. Line: Inn, and Elizabeth 
 
 Bunbury, St. Dunstan's, B. and W. 
 30 Jan. 1740. Robert Fosbrooke, Gent. Westminster, and Savan- 
 nah Perry, St. Giles's, B. and W. 
 3 May 1744. The Hon. H. Fox & Lady Caroline Lenox, B. cS: S.' 
 3 Sept. 1736. Nicholas Ambrose French, Gent. Covent Garden, 
 
 and Mary Tonman, Ditto, B. and W. 
 7 Feb. 1730. Nathaniel French, Merchant, St. Clement Danes, & 
 Margaret Street, Jun. St. Dunstan's, W. & S. 
 
 3 Nov. 1743. Alex. Gardener, M. A., Corpus Chris ti College, Ox. 
 & Sarah Norman, St. Geo.'s Han. Sq. W. & S. 
 
 18 June 1735. Thos. Gardner, Gt. & Sus''. Drillingsworth, B. & S. 
 30 Dec. 1721. Wm. Gaa, Gent. Whitechapel, and Hannah Founds, 
 
 Stepney. 
 
 21 Aug. 1730. Wm. Garth, Clerk, Savoy, and Eliz, King. 
 
 14 Mar. 1734. Arthur Gibson, Gent. Holborn, and Mary Baylis, 
 
 B. and W. 
 30 Mar. 1718. John Gilbert, Esq. Abergavenny, and Susannah 
 Gower, Ditto, W. and S. 
 
 19 April 1720. Malcolm Gillies, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and 
 
 Mary Jenks, Ditto, W. and S. 
 
 15 Oct. 1743. Archibald Gillon, Gent. St. James's, and Ruth 
 
 Jackson, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 22 Mar. 1754. Henry Gold, Gent. Ashford, Kent, and Mary Bark, 
 
 W. and W. 
 1 Oct. 1745. Thomas Godfrey, Gent. Great Parndon, Essex, 
 
 and Sarah Benton, Epping, B. and S. 
 5 June 1721. Robinson Glyn, Surgeon, Trinity Minories, and 
 
 Marg*. TrewoUer, St. Law: Jewry, B. and S. 
 
 1 April 1741. Samuel Gordon, Surgeon, St, James's, and Eliza- 
 
 beth Bradford, Ditto, S. 
 
 2 Mar. 1729. John Gordon, Esq. Westminster, and Barbara 
 
 Raynes, Greenwich, B. and S." 
 14 July 1735. George Gordon, Chirurgeon, Galloway, N. B. and 
 
 Betty Batchelor, Marylcbone 
 10 Jan. 1730. James Gordon, Gent. Islington, and Susannah 
 
 Poyner, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 ' See p. 16. => See p. 80. 
 
107 
 
 24 July 1722. Bcvill Granville, Gent. 8t. James's, and Mary Rose, 
 Weedon, Bucks. 
 7 Mar. 1734. Edmund Grantham, Gent. Harrow-on-the-Hill, and 
 
 Rebecca Annesley, Ditto, B. and S. 
 1 June 1751. Daniel Grant, Gent. Newington Butts, and Jane 
 Grant, Ditto, B. and W. 
 14 Jan. 1742. William Gray, Gent. St. James's, and Mary Wat- 
 son, B. and S. 
 22 Aug. 1735. Geo. Gray, Gent. Richmond, Surrey, and Susan- 
 nah Morgan, Ditto, B. and W. 
 27 Nov. 1724. Marmaduke Gresham, Knight and Baronet, of 
 
 Limpfield, and ' 
 
 5 Aug. 1721. Thomas Green, Gent. Lambeth, and Catherine Fo- 
 rescue, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 1740. The Hon. John Gray don and Kasandra Tahourdin. 
 
 10 Sept. 1717. Walter Griffith, Bachelor of Laws, and Euphany 
 
 St. John, St. James's, B. and S. 
 12 Mar. 1746. Alexander Grimaldi,'^ Painter, and Esther Barton, 
 W. and S. 
 1 July 1751. Samuel Grove, Gent. Norwich, and Mary Carpen- 
 ter, Attelborough, B. and S. 
 5 Sept. 1717. Marmaduke Gwinne, Gent. Glamorganshire, and 
 Elizabeth Jones, Breconshire, B. and S. 
 17 Feb. 1734. Richard Gyles, Gent. St Martin's Fields, and Ann 
 Howitt, St. Margaret's, B. and S. 
 
 29 Feb. 1744. Abraham Hagneus, Gent. Ley den, Holland, and 
 Anna Christiana Frederica Van Renesse, B. & S. 
 
 17 Sept. 1734. Francis Hall, Esq. Middle Temple, and Rebecca 
 Strong, Allhallows the Great, B. and S. 
 
 16 Aug. 1729. William Halam, Gent. Highgate, and Mary Evans 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 ' Sir Marmaduke Gresham, of Limpsfield and of Titsey, co. Surrey, Bart, died 
 2nd January 1741, at. 41. His wife was Anne, daughter of William Hoskyns, 
 of Barrow Green near Godston. The title became extinct in 1801. 
 
 ^ This marriage was for many years sought for in vain ; the author's examination 
 of these Registers accidentally discovered it. Mr. Grimaldi was the grandfather of 
 Stacey Grimaldi, Esq. F.S.A. author of the " Origines Genealogicae." He was an 
 artist, and died in 1800, aged 86. See Pedigree in the College of Arms. Register 
 12 D. 14. 
 
108 
 
 2 Jan. 174:2. Neliemiah Hammond, Gent. Wilsdon, and Phillis 
 
 Hyde, W. and W. 
 9 Aug. 1742. Jolni Hampton, Gent, and Mary Tipping. 
 
 1 Nov. 1721. Richard Hanley, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Jane 
 
 Arnold, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 9 Feb. 1746. John Harmston, Gent. St. Clement Danes, and 
 
 Mary Lisle, Ditto, B. and S. 
 6 Jan. 1742. James Hart, Winglesham, Surrey, and Ann Pusey, 
 B, and S. 
 
 18 Sept. 1751. Jacob Hartman, Bart, and Eliz. Hollis, S. 
 
 14 Aug. 1734. George Harrison, Gent. St. Dunstan's West, and 
 Susan Meggett, Christchurch, Surrey. 
 
 20 Dec. 1733. Thomas Harrison, Esq. Holborn, and Eliz. Turner, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 17 May 1737. William Rice Harris, Gent. St. Sepulchre's, and 
 Eliz. Martin, St. Martin Outwich, W. and S. 
 
 21 Apr. 1722. Richard Hargrave, Gent. St. Dunstan's West, and 
 
 Anne Lamb, St. Bride's, B. and S. 
 
 19 Aug. 1714. Ben. Harpur, Gent, St. Johns Westminster, and 
 
 Cath. Hale, B. and W. 
 
 22 Mar. 1752. Samuel Harness, Apothecary, Ludgate, and Eliz. 
 
 Thorp, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 2 Jan. 1727. William Hastings, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Eliz, 
 
 Stevenson, Ditto, B. and S. 
 2 Feb. 1734. Hyde Hatch, Gent. St. Dunstan's West, and Ann 
 Stock, B. and S. 
 30 Mar. 1742. William Hayward, Gent. Marylebone, and Penelope 
 Hughes, B. and S. 
 
 10 Oct. 1747. John Hedges, Gent, from Wilts, and Doiothy But- 
 
 ler, B. and S. 
 
 11 Feb. 172H. Anthony Henley,' Esq, St. Giles's, and Lady Eliz. 
 
 Berkley, St, James's, B. and S. 
 22 Nov. 1745. Aaron Henshaw, St. Margaret's, and Eliz. Arnold, 
 B. and S. 
 5 May 1724. John Hele, Esq. Middle Temple, and Philippa 
 Jordan, Charlvvood, B. and S. 
 
 10 Mar. 1744. James Hering, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Mary 
 
 Wilson, Ditto, S. 
 
 He was of the Grange, co. Hants, and elder brollier of Robert Earl of Nortli- 
 inglon, Lord High Chancellor of Great Jhituiu. She was daughter of .l;mies tiiinl 
 iCail of ik'rkeley, and died 1745. 
 
109 
 
 27 Sept. 1748. Robert Hills, Gent. Shoreham, Kent, and Hannah 
 
 Sunnix, B. and S. 
 
 28 Mar. 1736. Charles Hoar, Gent. St. Ann's, Westminster, and 
 
 Susannah Lane, Lothbury, B. and S. 
 17 June 1736. Price Ilolloway, Gent. St. Dunstan's West, and 
 Rachael Periam, Ditto, B. and S. 
 1 Sept. 1718. John Holywell, Gent. St. James's, and Anne Uf- 
 
 ford, Shoreditch, B. and S. 
 5 Jan. 1746. William Hollistar, Gent. Bloomsbury, and Love 
 
 Golledge, B. and S. 
 7 April 1730. William Horton, Gent. St. Clement's, and Eliz. 
 Wade, B. and S. 
 10 Mar. 1721. William Horton, Gent. Covent Garden, and Mary 
 
 Chester, Ditto, B. and S. 
 3 Jan. 1741. Wheeler Holt, Gent. Cambrose, Pembrokeshire, 
 
 and Frances Ward, St. James's, B. and S. 
 3 June 1738. Francis Hopkins, Gent. Stevenson, Berks, and Sarah 
 Leaky, Woolwich, B, and W. 
 
 25 Mar. 1754. Philip Home, Gent, St. Margaret's and Anne Tur- 
 
 ner, B. and S. 
 28 Dec. 1732. Collin Hossack, M.D. St. James's, and Abigail 
 Abbett, St. Clement Danes, B. and S. 
 
 26 Aug. 1734. John Howard, Gent. St. Martin le Grand, and Anne 
 
 Reason, Ditto, B. and S. 
 3 May 1751. John Howard, Gent. St. James's, and Eliz. Frevil, 
 Ditto, W. 
 28 April 1 749. Benjamin Howes, Gent. Chalbury, Oxon, and Eliz. 
 Gardiner, B. and W. 
 
 27 Nov. 1741. John Hewlett, Gent. St. James's, and Hannah Wal- 
 
 ton, B. and S. 
 
 22 Nov. 1720. Captain John Hoyle, Gent. Holborn, and Eliz. Cun- 
 
 ningham, Ditto, \V. and W. 
 9 Feb. 1737. William Hume, Gent. Holborn, and Sarah Davis, 
 Ditto, W. and W. 
 24 Dec. 1753. John Humphrys, Gent. St. Clement Danes, and 
 Eliz. Monson, B. and S. 
 
 23 May 1735. John Hunt, Gent. Eaton upon Wilmores, Salop, and 
 
 Catherine Roberts, B. and S. 
 14 June 1742. Thomas Hunter, Attorney, Holborn, and Eliz. 
 Stainsby, St. James's, B. and S. 
 
110 
 
 8 June 1733. Sam. Huron, Gt. St. Pancras, S: Mary Soley, Do. S. 
 
 9 Nov. 1742. Sumner Hutton, Gent. Deptford, and Ann Mead, 
 
 B. and S. 
 
 3 July 1721. John Ingoldsby, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and 
 Mary Porter, St. James's, B. and S 
 
 14 April 1736. James Inns, Gent. Andover, & Eliz. Kemm, B. & S. 
 17 Sept. 1729, John Ivye, Gent. Mitcheldever, Hants, and Mary 
 
 Hitterley, Cripplegate, B. and W. 
 
 6 June 1719. " Joseph Jackson, Clergyman, &c." and Esther 
 
 Curtis, B. and W. 
 5 Feb. 1722. Joshua Jackson, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and Mary 
 Cooper, Walbrook, W. and S. " a secret." 
 23 July 1735. Leonard Jackson, Gent. St. George Martyr, and 
 
 Mary Green, B. and S. 
 12 May 1734. James Lewis James, St. Kanthavy Crairs, Cardi- 
 gan, & Susannah Lloyd, Istrad, Ditto, B. & S. 
 
 15 Dec. 1744. Noah James, Esq. St. George's Hanover Square, 
 
 and Eliz. Bearcroft, Ditto, VV. and S. 
 1 Jan. 1734. Brian Jamson, St. Margaret's, and Lucy Askew, St. 
 James's. 
 
 8 Feb. 1720. John Frederic Jales, Gent, and Mary Reynalds, 
 
 Bishopsgate, B. and S. 
 27 Mar. 1747. Richard Jenkinson, Attorney, St, Mary Alder- 
 
 mary, and Eleanor Dean, Ditto, B. and S. 
 25 Feb. 1735. Edmund Johnson, Gent. St. John's Westminster, 
 
 and Jane Rogers, Ditto, S. 
 20 May 1721. John Johnson, Gent. Hexham, and Martha Carter, 
 
 Hesson, B. and W. 
 
 9 April 1752. Thomas Johnson, Gent. St. James's, and Mary 
 
 Whetley, St. Clement's, B. and S. 
 20 Nov. 1715. Wm. Johnston,' Lord Marquess of Annandale, and 
 Charlotta Vanlore Vanden Bempden, W. and S. 
 4 Sept. 1717. Charles Jones, Esq. Hatfield, and Anna Maria 
 Gower, St. James's, B. and S. 
 
 • Second Marquess of Annandale. This was his second wife. She was daugliter 
 and sole heir of John Vanden Bempde', of Pall Mall, Escj. He died in Feb. 1721-2, 
 and she re-married Lieut.-Col. John Johnson, who died at the siege of Carthagena 
 in 1741. She survived till Noveinher 1762. 
 
Ill 
 
 18 Sept. 1737. John Jones, (ient. and Eliz. Fotliergill, both of 
 
 Barking, Essex, H. and S. 
 17 May 1733. Thomas Jones, Gent. Holborn, and Elizabeth El- 
 mer, B. and S. 
 2 Mar. 1734. James Jones, Student in the Temple, of Kolt, 
 
 Denbighshire, and Ann Eeles, B. and S. 
 1 Oct. 1728. Walter Jordan, Gent. St. James's, and Ann Pitch- 
 ford, St. Martin's, B. and S. 
 17 Feb. 173G. William Judge, Gent. St. Clement Danes, and 
 Hannah Rose, Ditto, W. and W. 
 
 5 Nov. 1735. John Kelley, Esq. Inner Temple, and Mary Bou- 
 cher, W. and W. 
 
 4 Sept. 1720. Edward Kelly, Gent. St. Clement's, and Mary 
 
 Woodcock, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 5 Oct. 1734, John Kelshaw, Gent. St. George's Hanover Square, 
 
 and Ruth JJead, Hackney, B. and S. 
 
 23 Sept. 1720. James Kerford, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and Eliz. 
 
 Wentworth, Holborn, B. and S. 
 
 — 1746. Abel Johnson Kettlebey,' Esq. St. Dunstan's West, 
 
 & Margaretta Farquharson, St. Martin's, B. & S. 
 14 Nov. 1720. William Keen, Gent. Southwark, and Eliz. Rose, 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 19 Oct. 1709. Wm. Kinaston, Inner Temple, Barrister, and Doro- 
 
 thy Taylour, Holborn, B. and S. 
 17 Mar. 1747. William King, Gent. Bishopgate, and Catherine 
 
 Meads, B. and S. 
 21 June 1677. George King, Gent. St. George Martyr, and Ann 
 
 Fenwick, B. and S. 
 
 24 June 1727. William Kingsley, Esq. Maidstone, and Jane Lit- 
 
 tleton, North Uckington, Essex, B. and S. 
 13 June 1721. Nathaniel Kingsland, Gent. St. James's, and Eliz. 
 Anderson, Ditto, W. and S. 
 
 — 1713. James Kite, General Officer, and Margaret Shoot, 
 
 Westminster. 
 8 Nov. 1 735, John Kyrwood, Esq. Hanover Square, and Constant 
 Walpole, B. and W. 
 
 ' Of Ludlow, Bitterly, and of Stepple Hall, co. Salop, Esq. He died in 1756. 
 She was the only daughter of John Farquharson, Physician to the King of Den- 
 mark, and died in 1775. The only issue of this marriage was Maria-Statira Eliza- 
 beth Farquharson Johnston, who married Thomas Ilundell, of Bath, Surgeon. 
 
112 
 
 27 Dec. 1 7.50. John Ladyman, Gent. St. .James's, and Margaret 
 Atkinson, B. and S. 
 1 June 1736. Peter La Font, Gent. Soho, and Rlary Sandham, 
 
 St. Paul's Covent Garden, B. and S. 
 6 July 1721. Thomas Lane, Gent. Bentley Hall, Staffordshire, 
 
 and Anne Austin. 
 12 Aug. 1745. Thomas Langley, Esq. Upton, Bucks, and Mary 
 Wright, W. and S. 
 
 16 May 1742. Francis Law ley, Surgeon, St. Martin's Fields, and 
 
 Eliz. Crisp, Strand, W. and S. 
 
 17 July 1748. Samuel Featherstone Leigh, Gent. Packwood, 
 
 Warwickshire, and Jane Vivian, St. Luke's, 
 
 B. & W. 
 16 May 1733. Sir John Leigh, of Addington in Surrey, and Eliz. 
 
 Vade, of Bromley in Kent, W. and S. — in Long 
 
 Acre.' 
 14 Aug. 1736. Thomas Leigh, Gent. St. Clement Danes, and Ann 
 
 Kennedy, B. and S. 
 4 Dec. 1744. Charlton Leighton, Gent. Overbury, Salop, (Colo- 
 
 nells Regt.) and Anna Maria Mytton, Conover, 
 
 B. and S. 
 23 April 1726. Edward Lee, Gent. St. Sepulchre's, and Hannah 
 
 Devonport, Ditto, S. 
 
 18 Sept. 1737. William Lemmon, Gent. St. James's, and Anna 
 
 Maria Garetta Brett, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 ' This marriage was one which strongly evinced llie lamentable consequences en- 
 suing from the facility of Fleet marriages, which afforded to the artful and designing 
 the means of effecting their objects. Sir John Leigh, by this marriage, was placed 
 entirely under the influence of William Vade, the father of the bride, who obtained 
 the control over his estates, and procured the execution of a will, which was sub- 
 sequently disputed in Chancery, and eventually the question was carried to the 
 House of Lords. 
 
 From the Appeal Case (Jasper Jones and wife, appellants, John ]3ennett and 
 Mary his wife and others, respondents,) of the respondent the following is extracted : 
 
 " Respondent Vade now having it in his power to do as he pleased with Sir John, 
 got him to London under pretence of a christening ; and having discharged Sir 
 John's servants from attending, and having made him drunk, carried him away in a 
 hackney coach to a lodging provided for tliat purpose ; and at midnight procured 
 a Fleet parson to marry Sir John, then between fifty and sixty years of age, to his 
 the said respondent Vade's own daughter, a girl about sixteen or seventeen years 
 old, without any fortune, whom Sir John had scarce ever seen before." 
 
113 
 
 28 Dec. 173]. Paul Letlicllicr, Haberdasher, Aldgate, and Sarali 
 
 Wriglit, Ditto, S. 
 5 Jan. 1746. Thomas Lever, Gent. Bolton, Lancashire, and INIar- 
 
 garet Lathon, W. and W. 
 12 Mar. 1721. Joseph Lewis, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Charlotte 
 
 Hathaway, St. Martin's, B. and VV. 
 8 Aug. 1736. Thomas Lewis, Gent. St. Paul Covent Garden, and 
 
 Margaret Johnson, Ditto, B. and S. 
 14 Oct. 1722. Jenkin Lewis, Attorney, Carter Lane, and Esther 
 
 Edghill, St. Dunstan s, B. and S. 
 
 28 Jan. 1722. George Lewis, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and ftlar- 
 
 garet Burningham, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 29 Jan. 1735. Frederic Lightenson, Gent. Richmond, and Eliz. 
 
 Salt, St. Paul, Covent Garden. 
 19 May 1717. William Littill, Gent. St. James's, and Winifred 
 Vaughan, St. George's Hanover Square, B. & S. 
 
 8 July 1 720. Edward Lilly, Attorney, St. Matthew Friday Street, 
 
 and Anne Ward, Ditto, B. and S. 
 17 Mar. 1751. Robert Linely, Gent. Bloomsbury, and Eliz. Por- 
 teus, B. and S. 
 
 9 July 1738. Thomas Littleton, Gent St. Margaret's, and Fran- 
 
 cisca Maria Aangier, Ditto, B. and S. 
 24 Oct. 1740. "Gwin Lloyd of Hendor, Merinothshire, Esq., and 
 Elizabeth Taylor, of St. James's Westminster, 
 B. and S.'" 
 
 11 April 1736. Charles Lodwich, Gent. Holborn, and Mary 
 
 Phillips, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 30 April 1728. James Loggan, Gent. St. James's, and Mary Gen- 
 
 tile, Lambeth, B. and S. 
 16 Nov. 1740. George Long, Gent. Westham, Essex, and Mary 
 Staymaker, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 12 July 1734. Ferrick Lowther, Merchant, St. Margaret's, and 
 
 Elizabeth Bennett, B. and S. 
 27 Aug. 1733. Francis Lowther, Gent. Poultry, and Katherine 
 
 Haynes, Ditto, B. and S. 
 30 July 1718. Robert Lowthorp, Gent. Chelsea, and Jane Davis, 
 
 Allhallows, B. and S. 
 12 Jan. 1744. Nicholas Low, Gent. Strand, and Grace Cramar, 
 
 Hanover Square, B. and S. 
 
 ' Chap. V. contains an account of the Trials to which this entry gave rise. 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 2 Feb. 1754. Samuel Luke, Oent. Lincoln's Inn, and Mary Jones, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 27 Aug. 1736. Stephen Lusliington, Gent. Sittingborne, Kent, and 
 
 Mary Marsh, B. and S. 
 25 Jan. 1737. Edward Lutwidge, Gent. 4th Guards, and Mary 
 
 Mellish, Bramley, Surrey, W. and S. 
 11 Nov. 1751. Benjamin Lynn, Gent. Richmond, Yorkshire, and 
 
 Margaret FelqueroUes, Ashly, Suffolk, B. & W. 
 
 10 Jan. 1744. William Berkeley Lyon, Gent. St. George's Hanover 
 
 Square, and Catherine Bridges,' Ditto, B. & S. 
 
 7 Aug. 1742. William Macbean, Gent. Marylebone, and Margaret 
 Robinson, B. and S. 
 31 July 1742. Daniel Macbean, Gent, of the Guards, and Mary 
 
 Lyon, B. and W. 
 19 July 1736. Jn°. Manninge, Gt. Oundle, & Sarah Franks, B. & S. 
 
 1740. Honourable Capt. Fras. Martin, and Mary Bruce. 
 5 Feb. 1743. John Martin, Apothecary, Maidstone, and Margaret 
 Daylins, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 11 Aug. 1742. Edmund Martin, Gent. Covent Garden, and Eliza- 
 
 beth Fitzgerald, B. and S. 
 
 3 Mar. 1743. Robert Martin, Gent. Oxford, and Ann Berty, St. 
 
 James's, B. and S. 
 31 May 1723. Rich. Martin, Gent. Dulwich, and Fras. Thomson, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 29 Mar. 1752. James Martin, Surgeon, Hanover Square, and Ann 
 
 Loon, St. Gregory's, S. 
 22 Aug. 1742. Gaston Martineau, Gent. St. George's Middlesex, 
 
 and Mary lies, B. and W. 
 20 Aug. 1749. Samuel May, Gent; Shoreham, Kent, and Sarah 
 
 Russell, B. and S. 
 27 Mar. 1733. Baptist May,Gt. St. Margt.'s & Ann Hawley, B. & S. 
 16 Aug. 1742. Joseph Mazelier, Gent. St. James's, and Anna 
 
 Duportail, B. and S. 
 1 Jan. 1730. Matthew Mead, Gent. Aldgate, and Christian Ham- 
 
 bleton, Ditto, W. and W. 
 
 ' She was eldest daughter and co-heir of John Bridges, commonly called Mar- 
 quis of Carnarvon, son of James Duke of Chandos, and she remarried Edwyn 
 Francis Stanhope, Esq., Gent. Usher to the Queen, who died in 1807, and was 
 father of Sii Henry Kdwyn Stanhope, created a Baronet in lfi07. 
 
115 
 
 23 Oct. 1722. Whitney Mecane, Gent. St. James's, and Elenor 
 
 Fergus, Ditto, B. and S. 
 4 July 1742. Daniel M'Kenzie, Gent. St. Giles's, and Jane Leg, 
 
 Ditto, W. and W. 
 16 July 1735. William Mellish, Surgeon, Uxbridge, and Hannah 
 
 Howard, Guilford, W. and S. 
 27 Feb. 1734. William Mellish, Gent. Lincoln's Inn, and Katherine 
 
 Da Costa Villa Real, Budge Row.' 
 27 Mar. 1737. William Merrick, Gent. St. Martin's, and Catherine 
 
 Capper, Ditto, S. 
 12 June 1722. William Meredith, Clergyman, and Maria Pickup^ 
 
 St. James's, W. and S. 
 19 June 1742. Henry Meytheu, Gent. Covent Garden, and Sarah 
 
 Goodshaw, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 12 Oct. 1732. John Mills, Attorney, and Margaret Lawley, both 
 
 of St. Dunstan's West, B. and W. 
 
 19 Oct. 1722. Geo. Miller, Gent. St. Giles's, and Bridget Cook, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 27 May 1735. John Miles, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Isabella 
 
 Fairley, Ditto, B. and S. 
 23 Mar. 1735. William Mitchell, Surgeon, Coleman-street, and 
 
 Mary FVazier, St. James's, B. and S. 
 
 3 April 1735. Right Hon. Robt. Lord Montagu,' Grosv. Square, 
 
 & Miss Hart. Dunch. St. Mart. Fields, B. & S. 
 
 20 April 1721. John Montgomery, Gent. St. Dunstan's, and Mary 
 
 Cox, Low Layton, B. and S. 
 
 13 June 1738. Anthony Morgan, Gent. St. Clement's, and Lettice 
 
 Evans, Ditto, B. and S. 
 23 July 1721. Robert More, Gent. Kingington, and Mary Damsell, 
 St. Mary Magdalen, B. and S. 
 
 4 Oct. 1737. John Buridge Morton, Gent. St. Catherine's, and 
 
 Sarah Johnson, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 ' " N.B. Married at Madam Mellish's own house in Great Russell Street, 
 Bloomsbury." He was of Blyth, co. York, Receiver General of Customs, and died 
 1791. She, who died 1747, was daughter of Joseph Da Costa, and relict of Joseph 
 Da Costa Villa Real, of College Hill, in the parish of St. Michael Royal, in the 
 city of London, who died 1731, and by whom she was mother of Elizabeth, who in 
 1747 married William Monckton, Esq. after Viscount Galway. 
 
 ' He was son of Charles first Duke of Manchester ; was himself third Duke of 
 Manchester, and died 10th May 1762. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 
 
 1 1 Sept. 1742. Slaney Moieton, Gent. Birmingham, and Eliz. Bran- 
 wood, B. and S. 
 
 4 Nov. 1742. George Morison, Esq. Inner Temple, and Christian 
 
 Stewart, S. 
 
 20 A^ig. 1709, Charles Murrey, Capt. in Col. Hamilton's Regt. and 
 
 Anna Maria Norah Calvert, St. Dunstan's West, 
 B. and W. 
 2 Feb. 1729. John Murrey, Gent. St. George's Hanover Square, 
 and Eliz. Burges, Elverton, Hants, S. 
 
 7 Dec. 1749. William Myers, Gent. Stapleford Abbott, and Ann 
 
 Goodin, B. and W. 
 
 30 Aug. 1746. David Nash, Gent. Horse Guards, and Sarah Wil- 
 lett, St. James's, B. and S. 
 
 1 Jan. 1725. Hugh Naish, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and Mary 
 
 Williams, Ditto, B. and S. 
 14 Aug. 1721. Joseph Neame, Attorney, Bow, and Eliz. Spratt, 
 Sandwich, B. and S. 
 
 8 Mar. 1736. Gregory Nicholls, Gent. St. Fancras, and Eliz. 
 
 Green, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 5 May 1718. ^Egidius Nosemans, Esq. Bishopsgate, and Maria 
 
 Van Duijve, B. and S. 
 
 2 Sept. 1735. James O'Bryan, Gent. Bloomsbury, and Ann 
 
 Staples, B and S, 
 
 21 Nov. 1727. Adam Ogilvy, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and Elinor 
 
 Collins, St. James's, B. and S. 
 
 18 Aug. 1735. John George Ogilvie,i Lord Banff, St. James's, and 
 
 Mary Ogilvie, B. and S. 
 2 Jan. 1721. Patrick O'Hara, Gent. St. Ann's, and Eliz. Mer- 
 rett. Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 21 Dec. William Okeden, Esq. St. James's, and Mary Ver- 
 non, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 14 Sept. 1737. Nl. O'Neal, Gt. St. Giles's, & Mary Marshall, B.&W. 
 4 Nov. 1730. Wm. Orquhart,'- 3rd Regiment, and Grissel Ous- 
 worth, B. and W. 
 
 ' He was fifth Lord Banff, and unfortunately drowned 29th July 1738. She was 
 
 daughter of Captain James Ogilvy and remarried Rev. Kemp. 
 
 ' Query, Ur(]uhart. 
 
117 
 
 26 May 172-J. Thomas Palnier,i Knt. and Bart. M.P. for Roches- 
 ter, and EHz. Markham, Cov. Gar. W. and S. 
 
 15 Feb. 1686. Christr. Parr, St. James's, & Ann Watts, W. & S. 
 
 15 Mar. 1730. Hyde Parker, Gent. St. Paul Covent Garden, and 
 Ehz. Beaver, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 13 Dec. 1737. Charles Parsons, Gent. South Harting, Sussex, and 
 Mary Edes, B. and S. 
 
 29 Feb. 1736. Thos. Pasmore, Gt. Holb. & Isabella , W. & W. 
 
 1 Dec. 1716. Daniel Paul, Capt. Horse Guards, and Eliz. Murray, 
 
 B. and S. 
 1 April 1734. Henry Payne, Chirurgeon, Mitcham, and Rebecca 
 Bowles, Whitechapel, W. and W. 
 
 17 Feb. 1739. Wm. Peache, Gent, Shipton, Gloucester, and Mary 
 Baldwin, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 22 Jan. 1734. Thomas Peacock, Gent. Feltbone, Essex, and Mary 
 Smith, B. and W. 
 
 26 April 1735. James Peden, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and Eliz. 
 Geddings, Ditto, B. and S. 
 3 Mar. 1720. William Peirs, Esq. M.P. for Wells, and Mary Ives, 
 St. Martin's Fields, W. and S. 
 
 26 Dec. 1741. Peter Pelle, Gent. St. George's Hanover Square, 
 and Jemima Zinnnerman, B. and S. 
 
 17 June 1736. George Pennaliggen, Gent. Holborn, and Rebecca 
 Houghton, B. and W. 
 
 20 May 1721. Thomas Perry, Gent. St Giles's, and Osbaston So- 
 phia Newman, St. Clement's, B. and S. 
 
 19 Jan. 1737. Thomas Pett, Gent. Wye, Kent, and Mary Finmore, 
 North Hincksey, Berks, B. and S. 
 
 26 Jan. 1739. Craven Peyton, Gent. Nutfield, Surrey, and Eliza- 
 beth Farncombe, S. 
 
 26 Feb. 1723. Henry Peyton, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and Amey 
 Westbury, Ditto, B. and S. 
 7 Oct. 1753. Thomas Phillips, Gent. Holb. and Catherine Litton, 
 St. Paul's, Covent Garden, B. and S. 
 
 25 Sept. 1718. William Phipps,^ Esq. Holborn, and Lady Catherine 
 Annisley, Stoke Pogis, Bucks, B. and S. 
 
 ' Of Wingham, co. Kent, died 1723, S.P. M. She was his third wife. 
 
 ^ He died 1st February 1730. He was father of Constantine first Baron iMul- 
 grave. Lady Catherine Annesly was daughter and heir of James fourth Earl of 
 Anglesea, by Lady Catherine Darnley, natural daughter of King James IL 
 
118 
 
 20 Jan. 1730. John Pigott, St. Martin Orgars, and Constantia 
 
 Mar^ Burgoyne, St. Martin's Fields, S. 
 
 25 Nov. 1736. Rd. Pinnock, Gent. Windsor, and Ann Hardwick, 
 
 St. Margaret's, B. and S. 
 
 19 Nov. 1733. Abm. Plumb, Gent. St. Dunstan's West, and Lucy 
 
 Cooper, B. and S. 
 24 April 1720. Michael Plunkett, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Alice 
 Holmes, Ditto, B. and S. 
 9 Jan. 1736. John Ponsalby, Gent. Holborn, and Hester Powle, 
 
 St. James's, B. and W. 
 5 Jan. 1746. John Porter, Gent. Hackney, and Mary Tubb, 
 
 Ditto, B, and S. 
 14 July 1748. Rd. Pottinger, Esq. Chertsey, and Ann Weaver, 
 Odiam. 
 
 21 Aug. 1734. Francis Poultney, Gent. St. Paul's Covent Garden, 
 
 and Jane Griffiths, St. Martin's Fields, B. & S. 
 
 18 June 1735. Samuel Henry Poul, Gent, and Mary Bolt, B. & S. 
 
 5 Nov. 1750. Russell Caleb Powell, Gent. Holborn, and Sarah 
 
 Mortimer, B. and S. 
 28 Nov. 1729. John Powell, Gent. St. Ann's Westminster, and 
 
 Mary Lloyd, Ditto, B. and S. 
 4 Dec. 1735. Josiah Poynton, Gent. St. Giles's, and Eliz. lies, 
 
 Cripplegate, B. and W. 
 14 Aug. 1733. John Pratt, Gent, and Mary Bitter, both of St. Bo- 
 
 tolph Aldgate, W. and W. 
 
 20 Oct. 1727. John Pretty, Gent. Crondall, co. Southampton, and 
 
 Sarah Smither, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 30 Sept. 1738. Thomas Prendergast, Bart, and Ann Williams, Hol- 
 born, B. and S. 
 
 18 Sept. 1735. John Price, Gent. St. Asaph, Wales, and Eliz. 
 Smart, B. and S. 
 
 14 July 1718. Wm. Price, Esq. Aldg. & Francis Conolly, B. & S. 
 
 27 Mar. 1736. Rd. Prior, Gent. Ripley, and Mary Smith, Hammer- 
 smith, B. and W. 
 4 Nov. 1722. William Proby, Gent. St. James's, and Annabella 
 Cantrell, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 26 Oct. 1724. George Purdon, Esq. St. Clement Danes, and Mary 
 
 Pardon, St. Giles's, S. 
 
 20 April 1748. Rowland Sherman Quarrington, Gent. Emsted, 
 GIouc. and Julian Parker, St. James's, B. & S. 
 
119 
 
 14 Oct. 1731. JoJin Rands, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Mary Green, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 31 Mar. 1752. Tliomas Ravenscroft, Gent. Devenham, Cheshire, 
 
 and Margaret Broady, Rosthrew, W. and S. 
 
 11 Sept. 1748. Edward Read, Clerk of Alfrick, Worcestershire, and 
 
 Mary Parsons, W. and W. 
 8 Jan. 1729. William Reed, St. Edmund's New Sarum, and of 
 3rd Guards, B. and Dorothy Harbert, Mile End 
 Old Town. 
 
 12 Nov. 1694. Thos. Redfernie, Gent. & Margt. Williams, B. & S. 
 7 June 1751. Thomas Redshaw, Gent. Knarcsborough, Yorkshire, 
 
 and Martha Gould, St. Margaret's, W. and S. 
 
 28 Mar. 1733. Price Rice, Chemist, St. Clement Danes, and Jane 
 
 Nelson, B. and S. 
 
 1 Sept. 1734. John Rigg, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, B. and Thom- 
 
 lisson Waters, St. Paul's Covent Garden. 
 
 31 Jan. 1730. John Rimirs, Gent. St. Clement's Dane, and Ann 
 Barrett, Ditto, B. and S. 
 1734. Robert Roach, Gent. St. Clement's Dane, and Su- 
 sannah Dean, B. and S. 
 
 18 April 1743. George Roberts, Gent. Nottinghamshire, and Mary 
 Worth, B. and W. 
 
 11 Sept. 1717. Christr. Rodd, Esq. Sutton, Herts, and Catherine 
 
 Powell, Cripplegate, B. and W. 
 
 2 July 1718. Thomas Roffe, Gent. Speldhurst, Kent, and Anne 
 
 Becket, Baster, Surrey, B. and S. 
 
 7 July' 1742. Edward Rogers, Gent. & Mary Dunsler, B. & S. 
 
 8 May 1731. Thomas Rolte, Gent. St. Giles's, and Ann Calvert, 
 
 Holborn, B. and S.' 
 
 29 Oct. 1722. Langham Rokeby, Gent. Holborn, and Catherine 
 
 Morgan, Ditto, B. and S. 
 6 Aug. 1744. John Rose, Esq. Kingston, Surrey, and Sarah 
 Curtis, Maltsey, B. and S. 
 
 12 Mar. 1721. Thomas Rosendale, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and 
 
 Elizabeth Piccarsgill, Ditto, B. and W. 
 10 Mar. 1729. Rd. Roundell, Gent. Kerby-malzeed co. York, and 
 
 Jane Jones, Burton upon Trent. 
 27 Nov. 1736. William Russell, Gent. St. Martin's, and Elizabeth 
 
 Dormore, W. and W. 
 
 > Vide p. 86. 
 
120 
 
 6 Jan. 1734. Rd. Russell, Gent. Guilibrd, & Cath. Gates, B. S: W. 
 15 June 1733. AUin Rutledge, Merchant, St. Ebbs, Oxon, and 
 Jane Middleton, B. and S. 
 6 June 1747. Samuel Ryder, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Ann 
 Edwards, B. and S. 
 
 30 July 1734. Calvert Ryder, Clerk, Lincoln's Inn, and Martha 
 
 Wharton. 
 
 18 Sept. 1737. William Sacheverell, Esq. and Ann Robinson, both 
 
 of St. John's Westminster, B. and S. 
 
 4 Aug. 1725. " George Sacdancore,' Viscount Slygo, Middle 
 
 Temple, and Robyna Rebecca Clara Cararoe, 
 St. James's." 
 25 May 1725. Thomas Salt, Stafford Town, Burgess, and EHzabeth 
 Parry, B. and S. 
 Nov. 1732. William Saltmash, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Han- 
 nah Honour, Ditto, W. and S. 
 
 5 Sept. 1742. William Sandys, Gent. Holb. & Ann Long, W. & S. 
 
 1 Nov. 1733. Phillip Scudamore, Weaver, & Mary Fulion, Stepney. 
 28 June 1723. James Scott, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Elizabeth 
 
 Waldegrave, St. Julian's, Norwich. 
 12 Mar. 1720. William Shaw, Esq. Cheshunt, and EHz. Blandy, 
 of Inglewood, Parish of Kinsbury, Berks, B. & S. 
 
 31 July 1733. James Sheils, Gent. Marylebone, and Jane Lemon, 
 
 B. and S. 
 
 6 Oct. 1721. Daniel Shelley, Gent. St. James's, and Eliz. Davis, 
 
 Ditto, B. and W. 
 3 June 1736. William Shepherd, Gent. St. George's Hanover Sq. 
 and Ann Tomson, Ditto, W. and S. 
 
 20 Nov. 1745. Rd. Shillitoe, Gent. Holborn, and Frances Benson, 
 
 St. James's, B. and S. 
 24 Aug. 1726. Thomas Shute, Gent, and Martha Lovelock. 
 
 19 Aug. 1736. Henry Sidney, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Ann Bel- 
 
 li ngham. Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 21 Aug. 1702. Lawrence Sidney, St. James's, and Mary Marbow, 
 
 Lombard-street. 
 
 2 Oct. 1736. Rd. Silvester, Gent. Greenhithe, Swanscombe, Kent, 
 
 and Anna Maria Pawlet, St. Martin's in the 
 Fields, B. and W. 
 
 ' Query, Scudamore. 
 
121 
 
 17 Jail. 1744. Ralph Simpson, Gent. St. James's, and Sarah Ko- 
 
 berts, B. and W. 
 22 Sept. 1753. Redmond Simpson, Gent, of St. Ann's Westminster, 
 
 and EHzabeth Dubourg, Ditto, B. and S. 
 26 Jan. 1737. William Simpson, Gent. 1st Guards, and Sarah 
 
 Howard, Holborn, W. and W. 
 
 29 Feb. 1736. Denham Skeat, Gent. Whitechapel, and Katherine 
 
 Poole, Holborn, B. and S. 
 19 Aug. 1744. Arthur Skiffington, Gent. St. George's Hanover Sq. 
 and Frances Wilson, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 10 July 1752, George Skipton, Gent. Woolwich, and Jude Davidge, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 30 May 1731. George Slinger, Apothecary, North AUerton, York, 
 
 & Isabella Hawkins, St. Martin's Fds. W. & S. 
 26 July 1746. Robert Sloane, Gent, of the " Horse of Legonier's 
 Regiment," and Hannah Mason, B. and S. 
 
 13 Nov. 1727. William Sloper, Esq. St. James's, and Katherine 
 
 Hunter, Downing-street, B. and S. 
 7 Mar. 1 744. Leonard Smelt, Gent. Kirby, York, and Jane Camp- 
 bell, B. and S. 
 
 11 Jan. 1731. Robert Smith, Gent. Egham, and Eliz. Clemson, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 31 Oct. 1740, William Smith, Gent. Mary-le-bow, and Jane Smith, 
 
 of Knowle, Warwickshire, B. and S. 
 
 18 April 1721. William Soley, Gent. Savoy, and Ann Taylor, St. 
 
 Clement's, B. and S. 
 7 May 1720. Alexander Speedyman, Gent. St. Ann's, Westmin- 
 ster, and Sarah Roche, Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 11 Sept. 1735. Stratford Spenser, Gent. St. Martin's, B. and Mar- 
 garet Alexander, Ditto. 
 
 21 Jan. 1737. Thomas Stackhouse, Gent. St. James's, and Cathe- 
 rine Spelman, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 14 Jan. 1737. Francis John Stanley, " an Indian Gent." St. Bride's, 
 
 & Ellianor Evans, Gracechurch-street, B. & S. 
 
 15 Dec, 1678. Rd. Stanley, St. George's Hanover Square, and 
 
 Priscilla Bryant, Ditto, B. and S. 
 14 Feb. 1729, Abraham St. Clear, Gent. St. Gregory's, and Sarah 
 
 Sunderland, Ditto, W.and S. 
 17 Oct 1718. Thomas Stevens, Gent. Long Ditton, and Jane 
 
 Russell, Thames Ditton, B. and S. 
 
122 
 
 21 April 1721. James Stewart, Gent. St. Bride's, and Margaret 
 
 Cantrell, Ditto, B. and W. 
 25 July 1738. Abell Stibbs, Gent. Inner Temple, and Sarah 
 
 Waller, St. George Queen Square, W. and S. 
 28 Nov. 1718. James St. John, Esq. St. James's, and Anna Magda- 
 
 lena Rockwell, Ditto, W. and S. 
 21 Dec. 1718. Andrew St. John, Esq. Worcester, and Elizabeth 
 
 Maxsdon, Ditto, W. and W. 
 13 July 1717. William St. John, Gent. Wilts, and Mary Atkinson, 
 
 Gloucester, B. and S. 
 15 Nov. 1717. Christr. St. John, Esq. Gloucestershire, and Anne 
 
 Stephens, St. James's, B. and S. 
 19 May 1742. James Stonehouse, Gent. Coventry, and Ann Neale, 
 
 B. and S. 
 2 Dec. 1739. George Stoole, Gent, of the Life Guards, and Mary 
 
 Gill, of St. James's, S. 
 30 Nov. 1738. Benjamin Storey, Gent. Horse Guards, and Frances 
 
 Verycuk, Marylebone, B. and W. 
 21 Sept. 1733. Hugh Street, Gent, and Hannah Polland, both of 
 
 Clerkenwell, W. and S. 
 28 June 1719. Andrew Sturt, " Lawyer," St. Giles's, and Elizabeth 
 
 Cummings, Ditto, B. and S. 
 12 Jan. 1740. Rd. Styles, Esq. Hampstead, and Mary Tury, Ditto, 
 
 B. and W. 
 30 Mar. 1747. John Sutton, Gent. St. James's, and Jane Gierke, 
 
 B. and S. 
 
 11 June 1724. Thomas Talmash, Gent. St. Martin's, and Catherine 
 Neiurn, of same. 
 G Aug. 1736. Thomas Tayler, Gent. St. James's, and Mary Fur- 
 rier, DittOj B. and S. 
 23 Sept. 1731. John Taylor, St. Andrew's Undershaft, and Mary 
 
 Green, Ditto, 13. and S. 
 19 Sept. 1729. John Taylor, "Doctor and Surgeon," Southwark, 
 and Hester Waters, St. Giles's, W. 
 7 April 1736. William Tassel, Gent. Holborn, and Susannah De- 
 velley, W. and W. 
 28 May 1730. William Tew, Gent. St. Botolph's Bishopsgate, and 
 Catherine Skeere, Ditto, B. and S. 
 6 Dec. 1720. Edward Thayer, Gent. Lothbury, and Martha 
 Wignally, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
123 
 
 3 Jan. 1744. William Thomas, Gent. St. Lawrence, and Eliza- 
 
 beth Corbit, B. and S. 
 12 June 1735. Thomas Thompson, Gent. St. Margaret's, and 
 
 Susannah Pedley, St. Martin's, B. and S. 
 9 June 1718. Dr. Benjamin Thornhill, and Elizabeth Collyer of 
 
 St. Pulchre's. 
 16 Sept. 1734. George Thornley, Gent. Aldgate, and Lucy Gal- 
 lard, St. Giles's, B. and S. 
 21 Feb. 1721. Rd. Tilden, Gent. St. Dunstan's East, and Alice 
 
 Thorp, St. Sepulchre's, B. and S. 
 7 Dec. 1718. Michael Tipton, Gent. Westminster, and Jane 
 
 Whitehead, Ditto, B. and S. 
 24 July 1720. Jemison Toft, Gent. St. Margaret's, and Thamar 
 
 Young, St. Ann's Westminster, B. and W. 
 27 Jan. 167G. James Tooth, Wharfinger and Lighterman, St. 
 
 Margaret's, & Martha Gamon, Ditto, B. & S. 
 5 April 1716. George Toriano, Gent. Westminster, and Dorothy 
 
 Tatnall, B. and S. 
 1 Sept. 1746. Henry Tounge, Gent, of the Horse, and Dorothy 
 
 Oaks, B. and S. 
 24 July 1751. George Townsend, Gent. Rochester, and Sarah 
 
 Bright, Ditto, B. and S. 
 10 Aug. 1721. George Henry Torneman, Gent. St. James's, and 
 
 Elizabeth Dorothea Husteden, Ditto, B. & W. 
 12 Jan. 1743. Thomas Treffry, Gent. Fowey, Cornwall, and Anna 
 
 Marshall, W. and W. 
 23 Jan. 1733. Charles Trewit, Gent, and Christian Moody, both 
 
 of St. Giles in the Fields, B. and W. 
 7 June 1735. John William Tripp, Esq. Cornhill, and Catherine 
 
 Grey, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 7 Jan. 1721. Henry Rodgers Trubshaw, Gent. St. Dunstan, and 
 
 Esther Webb, Holborn, B. and S. 
 
 8 Sept. 1734. Edward Turner, Surgeon, Southwark, and Elizabeth 
 
 Haynes, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 4 Aug, 1734. James Twinton, Gent. & Martha Warren, B. & S. 
 30 Dec. 1733. John Twisleton,' of St. James's, and Ann Gardner, 
 
 B. and S. 
 
 ' John Twisleton, of Broughton, co. Oxon, ob. 1763, married Ann, daughter 
 of William Gardner, of Little Bourton, co. Oxon, and died 1769. Their 
 son Thomas became Baron Say and Sele in 1781, as heir general of Sir Richard 
 Fenys, and this marriage became subject of discussion in the House of Lords, 
 see Chap. V. 
 
124 
 
 6 Aug. 1751. Lyonel Vane, Gent. St. George's Hanover Square, 
 
 and Jane Ashbury, W. and S. 
 22 Aug. 1733. Charles Vandam, Gent St. James's, and Marhat 
 
 Ludgate, B. and S. 
 26 Sept. 1736. Dirk Vanbackell, Gent. St. James's, and Rebecca 
 
 Waller, St. Clement's Dane, B. and S. 
 
 28 Nov. 1737. John Jacob Vanzuker, Gent, and Margaret Leva 
 
 Grotriaus, B. and W. 
 
 29 July 1736. William Vaughan, Gent. Camberwell, and Bethia 
 
 Butler, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 19 Jan. 1722. John Vaughan, Gent. Holborn, and Dorothy Bunt- 
 ing, St. Clement's, B. and S. 
 
 11 April 1744. Antos. Pizolato des Venetys, Gent. New York, and 
 Susannah Micklesfield, Aldgate, B. and S. 
 
 16 Dec. 1739. John Vernon, Gent. St. Clement's Dane, and Mary 
 
 Hodgson, St. Dunstan's West, B. and S. 
 8 May 1718. John Vernon, Esq. St. James's, and Anne Lysson, 
 of Hodsdon, B. and S. 
 26 July 1736. John Violet, Gent. Enfield, and Jane Wright, Ditto, 
 B. and S. 
 
 30 June 1738. William Vivian, Gent. Camberwell, and Jane Ward, 
 
 Ditto, B. and W. 
 
 ]0 May 1742. Robert Wadeson, Gent. Barnard's Inn, and Eva 
 Weyman, Holborn, B. and S. 
 
 25 Oct. 1748. John Wall, Gent. Epping, & Mary West, W. & W. 
 13 June 1753. Thomas Walmsley, Gent. St. Helen's Bishopsgate, 
 
 and Rachel Lane, Dowgate Hill, W. and W. 
 
 18 Nov 1729. Robert Waller, Esq. Ensign and Adjutant 1st 
 
 Guards, Covent Garden, and Elizabeth Dodd, 
 Plaistow, B. and S. 
 
 26 Aug. 1720. Rd, Waller, Gent. Thistleworth, and Eliz. Holland, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 17 June 1727. Edward W^arr, Barber Surgeon, St. Margaret's, 
 
 and Ann Bell, Ditto, W. 
 3 Jan. 1749. Edward Warner, Gent. Crundal, Hants, and Mary 
 Mitchell, B. and W. (£10 10.) 
 
 19 Oct. 1718. Thomas Wate, Gent. Avington, and Rachel Brock, 
 
 Berks, B. and W. 
 
 27 Oct. 1734. Edmund Watson, Attorney, Nevvington Butts, and 
 
 Thomazin Austen, St Giles's. 
 
1S5 
 
 18 Nov. 1718. Jonatlian Watson, Esq. St. James's, and Susanna 
 Holland, St. Martin's Fields, W. and S. 
 3 Dec. 1721. Lewis Way, Esq. Inner Temple, and Sophia Page, 
 Christcluirch Parish, B. and S. 
 
 31 Oct. 1722. James Weirsdale, Gent. St. Giles's, and Anne 
 Wickham, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 11 Mar. 1718. William Wells, Gent. St. Giles's, and Mary Woods, 
 St. Ann's, B. and S. 
 7 June 1719. John Welch, Gent. St. James's, and Catherine 
 
 Shepherd, Ditto, B. and W. 
 6 June 1737. Temple West, St. Martin's Fields, and Frances 
 Balchen, St. Luke's, S. 
 
 26 Jan. 1744. Thomas Wharton, Gent. St. Andrew's, and Chris- 
 tian Harvey, W. and S. 
 
 20 Jan. 1741. John Wheeler, Surgeon, Bridport, and Leonora 
 Bingham, Sargeant's Inn, Fleet-street, B. & S. 
 
 9 Dec. 1734. Decimus Wheel, Gent. Stepney, and Patience 
 
 Grove, Whitechapel, B. and S. 
 14 Nov. 1743. John Whitby, Counsellor, and Ann Northey, St. 
 
 Ann's Soho. 
 31 Mar. 1735. Anthony Whiting, Farmer, Addington, Kent, and 
 
 Eliz. Luck, Banstead, Kent, B. and S. 
 
 22 Dec. 1748. Richard Whitingham, Gent. St. George's Grosvenor 
 
 Square, and Mary Bludrick, W. and W. 
 14 Mar. 1734. Edmund White, Gent. Limehouse, and Mary Monk, 
 
 Ditto, W. and S. 
 28 April 1730. William White, Gent. Horsham, and Bathia Waller, 
 
 Ditto, S. (" private.") 
 24 April 1733. Henry Whitfield, Gent, and Lydia Marshall, 
 
 B. and S. 
 
 23 June 1737. James Whittaker, Gent. St. Ann's Westminster, and 
 
 Margaret Cranmer, Ditto, B. and W. 
 30 Dec. 1741. Sherley Wild, Gent. St. Matthew's, and Elizabeth 
 
 Sheley, B. and S. 
 5 Aug. 1751. Jonathan Wilde, Gent. Islington, and Sarah Young, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 23 Dec. 1687. Robert Wildman, Gent. Newington, and Margaret 
 
 Kirk. 
 
 10 June 1746. Edward Willett, Gent. Whittingham, Sussex, and 
 
 Mary Camfield, Speldhurst, Kent, B. and S. 
 
126 
 
 13 July 1717. Marmaduke Williams, Esq. London, and Penelope 
 
 Mansfield, Putney, B. and S. 
 30 June 1730. William Williams, Esq. and Mary Sedgwick, St. 
 
 Dunstan's West, B. and S. 
 3 Aug. 1720. William Wilmer, Esq. Sywell, Northamptonshire, 
 
 and the Right Honourable the Lady Mary 
 
 Benet,' St. Martin's Fields, B. and S. 
 12 Mar. 1754. John Wilson, Gent. St. James's, & Amy Brown, S. 
 
 16 Mar. 1734. Edmund Winbush, Gent. St. Martin's, and Harbur 
 
 Jane Manship, Hampstead, B. and S. 
 
 19 Feb. 1733. Thomas Winn, Gent. St. James's, and Eliz. Batter- 
 
 wright, B. and S. 
 
 7 April 1727. James Winton, Gt. Chelsea, & Mary Burt, Do. S. 
 
 10 Aug. 1716. Stephen Woodhouse, Gent. St. James's, and Anna 
 
 Maria Glover, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 20 Feb. 1677. John Woodard, St. Margaret's, and Eleanor Chand- 
 
 ler, Ditto, W. and W. * 
 
 17 April 1739. John Woolfe, Gent. St. Bride's, and Mary Camp- 
 
 bell, St. Martin's Fields, B. and W. 
 25 Dec. 1736. John Woolastone, Gent. Greenwich, and Elizabeth 
 
 Jones, B. and S. 
 28 Sept. 1751. Edward Woolstoncroft, Esq. St. Botolph's, and 
 
 Mary Bird, Ditto, W. and S. 
 23 Dec. 1735. Robert Wright,* Esq. Doctors' Commons, and Alice 
 
 Roberts, B. and W. 
 
 11 June 1737. Thomas Wright, Doctors' Commons, Gent, and 
 
 Alice Wright, Ditto, B. and W. 
 15 Sept. 1751. William Wyatt, Esq. Pool, and Anne Maria Day, S. 
 27 Oct. 1746. William Wynne, Gent. St. George's Hanover Sq. 
 
 and Isabella Walpood, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 8 July 1739. Florence Young, St. Giles's, and Charity Jackson, 
 
 B. and S. 
 
 ' She was daughter of Charles Bennet first Earl of Tankerville, and died 1729. 
 * Died 1737, and by his will, dated April 1736, he declares he was married by 
 " the Rev. Walter Wyatt, of Turnagain, London." 
 
127 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE FLEET REGISTERS NOT EVIDENCE. 
 
 During the period in which marriages were solemnized in 
 the Fleet and its purlieus, there occurred frequent Indict- 
 ments for Bigamy ; the temptations of expedition, and the 
 arts employed to entrap the unwary, inducing the commission 
 of that crime to a great degree. 
 
 In nearly the whole of these indictments, the proof of mar- 
 riage was not only by production of the Fleet books, but by 
 collateral evidence. If in the absence of a register credible 
 evidence was adduced of a marriage at the Fleet, such evi- 
 dence was accepted, and the circumstance of its being a 
 Fleet marriage was no objection. The objections, as will 
 presently be seen, were to the disreputable witnesses who 
 were continually offered to prove the marriage, and from the 
 notorious practice which existed of making false entries in 
 the Registers. At a later period, however, exception was 
 taken to the Registers themselves, as not being (even if cor- 
 rectly and honestly kept) any moi*e than private memoranda 
 by a person without authority. This seems to be a warrant- 
 able exception, since these Registers were kept at a time 
 when a mere acknowledgment and declaration, before wit- 
 nesses, were sufficient to constitute a marriage, without the 
 intervention of a religious ceremony ; and these books were 
 clearly not to be taken on the same footing as a parish regis- 
 ter, containing an entry of marriage made in facie Ecclesia, 
 and recorded by an authorized clergyman, as an act of reli- 
 gious ceremony and not of civil contract. 
 
 In one or two instances the books were altogether refused, 
 even as collateral evidence. In the case of Mary Lutwich, 
 indicted in 1740 for bigamy, the following is reported to have 
 taken place. 
 
 " Mr. Crosier. — I keep tlie Hoop and Bunch of Grapes, Holborn 
 
128 
 
 Bridge ; we have had many a score of marriages at our house in a 
 year. (Produces the book.) Here is the Book, the Minister put 
 it down." — The Court would not allow the book to be read, it 
 being a Fleet Register. 
 
 In 1732 a cause was decided in Doctors'' Commons, where 
 the Court decreed a party to have died a bachelor, although 
 the parson who married the party swore to the fact, and the 
 book containing the entry was produced.^ 
 
 It is recorded that on the trial at York, in 1780, of the 
 cause of Twisleton v. Cockshutt, Mr. Justice Willes received 
 a Fleet Register as evidence : It appears, however, by the 
 recitals in Col. Twisleton's case (claiming the Barony of Say 
 and Sele in 1781) respecting that trial at York, that evidence 
 by many other witnesses, as to repute and acknowledgment, 
 was also given and received. 
 
 In the cause of Lawrence v. Dixon, tried on the 7th 
 July 1792, the plaintiffs, amongst other evidence, produced 
 (by a witness, who said he had purchased them,) the Fleet 
 Books, where the marriage of Daniel Hall and Elizabeth 
 Lawrence was entered to have been celebrated on the 7th 
 May 1737. Lord Kenyon said he received this evidence 
 with great doubt : there was a tradition in Westminster 
 Hall, that when the books were produced before Lord Hard- 
 
 ' This cause was between Mrs. Mary Storer, wife of Mr. .luJe Storer, and sister 
 of Mr. James Luff, a brewer at Westminster, deceased, and Mrs. Hannah Green, 
 calling herself Luff, pretending to be the wife of the deceased, and that they were 
 married in the Fleet. " Their marriage appeared upon the Register, pretended 
 to be kept in that place ; the clergyman by whom it was pretended they had been 
 married, swore that he had actually married them, and a woman swore that she 
 was present at the marriage ; but the Register books appearing to be very irregu- 
 larly kept, and the witnesses disagreeing in some circumstances of their evidence, 
 the Court did not think proper to give any credit to the proofs of the marriage, and 
 therefore pronounced the deceased to have died a bachelor, and decreed Letters of 
 Administration to the deceased's sister, he having died intestate. Which decree, it 
 is to be hoped, will put a stop to that scandalous custom of people's going to the 
 Fleet to be married. It is indeed seldom practised by persons of any character, 
 unless it be when one of the parties has a settled purpose of betraying tlie other into 
 a villainous snare, and therefore such marriages ought never to be supported by law 
 but upon the most clear and convincing proofs." — Political Slate of Great Britain 
 for 1732. 
 
1-29 
 
 wicke, he woukl not receive them in evidence, but cut tlieiu 
 to pieces in Court. After so great an autliority had declared 
 against them, his Lordshij) said he could not receive them 
 without some hesitation, but that he was inclined to think that 
 in a PEDIGREE CASE thetj ivere adtnissible, though by no 
 means such evidence as ought to be favourably received. — 
 Peake's N. P. Cases, 185. 
 
 In 1794 the cause of Roe on dem. of Passingham v. Lloyd 
 and others, was tried at Shrewsbury, before Mr. Justice 
 Heath. On which occasion Benjamin Panton, the proprietor 
 of the Fleet Registers, proved his having been in the habit of 
 attending Courts of Justice with these books, and that he 
 never knew them refused. Mr. Justice Heath received the 
 Fleet Registers in evidence of the marriage of Gwyn Lloyd 
 and Elizabeth Taylor, but he was in some measure led to do 
 so by the circumstance of the Pancras Register containing 
 the baptism of Elizabeth Taylor's daughter as " the daugh- 
 ter of Gwyn and Elizabeth Lloyd," and also containing the 
 burial of the mother by the name of Elizabeth Lloyd ; it 
 has been since proved that those two entries tvere forged. 
 Upon the two subsequent trials of this question in 1826 and 
 1827, this forgery of the Pancras Register was clearly 
 proved,^ and the Fleet Register thereby lost its chief sup- 
 port, but had it been otherwise, the entry would not have 
 been received in evidence. 
 
 A very few days after the admission of the Fleet books by 
 Mr. Justice Heath at Shrewsbury, in 1794, the cause of Doe 
 ex dem. Orrell v. Madox was tried at Maidstone, before Lord 
 Chief Justice Kenyon. In this case a Register of Fleet 
 marriages was udmilted in evidence, but under the following 
 protest. Lord Kenyon said he had admitted it, because 
 other Judges had done so, but he desired that his having 
 done so, should not be understood as thereby sanctioning 
 
 ' It is said that a man named Hendry forged this book. He was pursued in 
 1806, but escaped to America. Revett the officer found he had embarked from 
 Bristol a fortnight before his arrival. Hendry's wife told the plaintiff's attorney 
 that the book was burnt. 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 their admission, nor should his authority be cited for the 
 purpose in future, as he was of opinion that they were liable 
 to many objections, that their authority was very doubtful, 
 and therefore as a species of evidence of a suspicious and 
 exceptionable nature, he thought they ought not to be 
 allowed. '^ 
 
 In December in the same year the cause of Reed v. Passer 
 and others was tried in the Court of King's Bench, when Lord 
 Kenyon said, " that in a case on the Home Circuit last sum- 
 mer, he had admitted such Registers as evidence; that though 
 he had not then made up his mind concerning their admissi- 
 bility, he then thought them a species of evidence of a very 
 doubtful and dangerous nature ; and had, in summing up, 
 observed to that effect to the Jury. That in a late case at 
 the last Shrewsbury assizes, they had been admitted by Mr- 
 Justice Heath ; but notwithstanding his respect for that 
 learned Judge''s opinion, he thought himself bound to dissent, 
 and to give it as his settled opinion that they were a species 
 of evidence which ought never to be admitted. In a case be- 
 fore Lord Hardwicke, where a book such as the present was 
 offered in evidence, he tore the book, and said such evidence 
 should never be admitted in a Court of Justice. That Lord 
 Chief Justice De Grey had been of the same opinion. With 
 respect to the entries in the books themselves, (continued 
 Lord Kenyon,) they could be taken in no other point of 
 view than as private memoranda, which were not evidence; 
 that these entries were of less authority even than the private 
 memoranda of third persons, inasmuch as they were made 
 not only by third persons, but by persons who knew while 
 they were doing them that they were illegal, and for which 
 they were liable to punishment by the canons of the church." 
 His Lordship therefore totalli/ rejected them, as a species of 
 evidence completely inadmissible. — {Peake's Nisi Prius Cases, 
 23L) The Times of Dec. 3rd 1794-, contains the following- 
 additional observations of his Lordship on this Case: — " It 
 
 • Tuesday, 12 Aug. 1794. (Esp. Nisi Prius Cases.) 
 
131 
 
 lias been observed this evidence has been received in the 
 House of Lords ;' I bow with ojreat respect to the evidence 
 received by that House wlien they sit as a court of dernier 
 resort. But now and then, upon other occasions, that great 
 and august assembly may receive rather suspicious evidence. 
 I wish the Fleet Registers were all ordered to be committed 
 
 ' In the printed Case of Col. Thos. Twisleton claiming tlie Barony of Say and Sele, 
 in 1781, which is the case here alluded to, it was stated that John Twisleton, the 
 claimant's father, was married to Ann Gardner, the claimant's mother, in 1733, at 
 the Fleet prison, where marriages were at that time frequently celebrated. In that 
 case a certificate of the marriage, in the hand-writing and signed by the then officiat- 
 ing Minister of the Fleet, was offered in evidence ; but it does not appear whether it 
 was admitted or not. The marriage was however allowed to be good. — (Cruise on 
 Dignities, 273.) From an examination of the Minutes of the Committee of Privileges, 
 it appears that the certificate of this marriage by Walter Wyatt, minister of the 
 Fleet, was tendered ; but there is not any statement to show that it was admitted ; and 
 it is clear that the Committee went into the examination of witnesses to prove the de- 
 claration of the parties, their cohabitation and reception in society as man and wife, 
 the education of the children of the marriage, and their reputed legitimacy. It 
 would therefore seem that the marriage was established by evidence of reputation, 
 public declaration, the avowal of the parties themselves, and other corroborating 
 circumstances. 
 
 In volume I. of the miscellaneous collection of Pedigrees by Francis Townsend, 
 Esq. Windsor Herald, in the library of the College of Arms, p. 36, are to be found 
 the notes made by him at the hearing before the Committee of Privileges on the 21st 
 of June 1781 , whereby it appears that it was upon the evidence of witnesses, Susan 
 Delafield, the Earl of Guilford, and the Rev, Mr. Marsy, and certain corroborating 
 circumstances that the marriage was established. The Lord Chancellor (Thurlow) 
 in summing up recapitulated the proofs, and said " though the certificate of the Fleet 
 marriage and the acknowledgment of that marriage in the will of Mr. Twisleton 
 might possibly be forgeries, and indeed of themselves could not he admitted as suffi- 
 cient evidence of the fact, yet the corroborating circumstances were so strong as not 
 to leave a doubt on his Lordship's mind, with respect to its having really taken 
 place," and therefore he moved — 
 
 That the Committee should report to the House, that the claimant Col. Thomas 
 Twisleton had made out his claim to the Barony of Say and Sele, which was agreed 
 to and ordered accordingly. 
 
 In addition to this note of Mr. Townsend's, the editor, moreover, has been favour- 
 ed with the sight of a printed copy of the case of Col. Twisleton, on his claim in 
 1781, amongst some collections of the late Sir Isaac Heard, Garter, who as well as 
 Mr. Townsend was professionally engaged in the case, and present at the hearing 
 before the Committee, on the back of which case he has made short notes of the 
 evidence produced, where amongst others the following occurs : — 
 
 " Wyatt Min' of Fleet, certificate of marriage cannot be admitted in any Court 
 of Justice." 
 
 k2 
 
132 
 
 to the flames.' Questions of this sort are of the hist 
 
 importance. By the 2Gth Geo. II. the evidence of tlie fact of 
 marriage is more easily obtained than it was before, when 
 people wandered up and down the country marrying wher- 
 ever they pleased. From that circumstance the evidence of 
 marriage often became very obscure, and if evidence arising 
 from cohabitation and reputation had not been received, hard 
 would have been the condition of many respectable people. 
 By the Marriage Act, it is not essential to the legality of a 
 marriage that it should be registered, though the act makes 
 it penal in any clergyman to neglect it, and I hope it is very 
 seldom omitted, as it adds to the solemnity of that important 
 contract ; cohabitation and reputation, however, are still evi- 
 dence of marriage." 
 
 The cause of Cooke and another v. Lloyd was tried at the 
 Salop Summer assizes in 1803, before Mr. Justice Le Blanc. 
 The Fleet books were offered to prove the marriage of John 
 Phillips and Mary Guess, on the 28th May 1747, and on 
 Justice Le Blanc saying they were no evidence whatever, the 
 defendant called a witness, who said that there being a ques- 
 tion in the year 1761 as to this marriage, he examined these 
 books, then in the possession of a man who said he was clerk 
 to Mr. Dare, and that the entry then stood in the books, in 
 
 From the notes here referred to, made by Mr. Townsend and Sir Isaac Heard, 
 it would seem clear tliat the Fleet Register was not received ; but that tlie fact of 
 marriage was inferred from the strong corroborating circumstances, supported by 
 diflerent witnesses, and the general reputation in society that ]\Ir. and Mrs. Twisle- 
 ton were man and wife. The proof of a marriage by means of a register not being 
 indispensably necessary, as Mr. Cruise, at p. 273 of his work already referred to, 
 observes : — 
 
 " It has always been held that direct and positive proof of the fact of marriage is 
 not necessary in cases of pedigree, but that the acknowledgment of the parties, 
 their reception by ttieir families as married persons, their cohabitation, public repu- 
 tation, and various other circumstances are admissible, as evidence of marriage." 
 
 ' It would have been a very unjustifiable and lamentable act to liave destroyed 
 the evidence (such as it is) of one or two hundred thousand marriages, together 
 with a great number of baptisms, which are dispersed throughout the Fleet Regis- 
 ters ; and the lawyer and antiquary cannot but commend the government which at 
 length purchased and deposited them in safe custody. 
 
133 
 
 tlic same state as it was now. Justice Le Blanc, — " This 
 evidence carries the case IK) further; the witness had no know- 
 ledge of the fact but such as he derived from the books, which 
 were no more evidence then than they are noiv. The entry is 
 nothing more than a private memorandum, made by some- 
 body who had no authority to make it, and who might put 
 down anything he pleased whether true or false." — Peake's 
 Evidence, Appendix 80. 
 
 In the cause of Lloyd and Passingham, in 1809, (16 Ves. 
 59) Lord Chancellor Kldon said, " I give no opinion that 
 the Fleet Register is evidence, as a Register. But I am not 
 prepared to say it may not be received as evidence of a fact, 
 and I can suppose a case in which such evidence might be 
 received. Upon a question of pedigree, would not that en- 
 try be admitted, not as a Register, but as a declaration, 
 under the hand of a party ; or upon an indictment for biga- 
 my, the first marriage alleged to have been in the Fleet, 
 and evidence produced that uniformly an entry of marriage 
 was made, would not the production or non-existence of such 
 entry be evidence to the other fact .?" 
 
 In 1826 the cause of Lloyd and Passingham was tried at 
 Shrewsbury, before Mr. Justice Burrough and a special 
 Jury. Mr. Taunton, in opening this case to the Jury, said, 
 " There are curious anecdotes in all professions, and it is a 
 curious circumstance that upon the occasion of the verdict in 
 1794, many weeks had not elapsed before a directly contrary 
 decision from that which Mr. Justice Heath had made in 
 this cause at Shrewsbury, took place. I believe it was al- 
 most in the same week, the one cause was tried upon the 
 Monday, and the other, I am told, was tried upon the Thurs- 
 day in the same week, and the same Counsel were present ; 
 but it so happened that my Lord Kenyon, on the Home cir- 
 cuit, on the very Thursday afterwards, in a cause in which 
 the then Mr. Erskine and the then Mr. Garrovv were Counsel 
 again on opposite sides before his Lordship, and on which 
 occasion the same evidence of one of these supposed Fleet 
 Registers was oft'ered — my Lord Kenyon instantly rejected 
 
134 
 
 it." The Attorney General, (after noticing the admission of 
 the books by Mr. Justice Heath,) observed " that they were 
 received by another high and enlightened individual, rarely 
 equalled in point of legal knowledge, never at any period 
 surpassed. I mean by the celebrated Lord Hardwicke,' Lord 
 Chief Justice, and afterwards Chancellor of this country. 
 They were about the same period over and over again re- 
 ceived upon the different circuits in this country." Mr. 
 Justice Biirroiigh told the Jury, that although it appeared 
 the Fleet books were received in evidence on the former trial, 
 he was of opinion, that they must not consider those books 
 as evidence for their consideration now, for that in his judg- 
 ment they were not admissible in evidence. 
 
 The cause of Lloyd v. Evans was tried at Shrewsbury in 
 1827, before Mr. Baron Vaughan. Mr. Serjeant Russell, — 
 " I believe at this moment there is no decision of the Court 
 in Banc upon the subject ; but there are Nisi Prius deci- 
 sions, in which learned Judges have refused to receive them, 
 though I am still at a loss to understand the ground why 
 they are to be refused altogether. I can understand why 
 they should be refused to be received as a Register, with all 
 the authenticity of a Parish Register. I am and ought to be 
 entitled to give it in evidence as corroborative writing, to 
 support the fact I am about to establish by other evidence.'' 
 Mr. Baron Vaughan, — " It is now clearly established, I 
 take it, that these Registers are not evidence to authenticate 
 any such marriage ; it is known they have been the vehicles 
 of fraud and abuse ; they were never made with the same 
 degree of care that the other documents were, but they were 
 made by persons who assumed authority to second these 
 transactions, and being made a very ill use of, and getting 
 into very bad odour, the Judges of the land seem to have 
 come unanimously of late to the conclusion that they are not 
 even receivable in evidence, to say nothing of the question 
 whether they should be submitted to a Jury for their consi- 
 
 ' This is very improbable, for it was Lord Hardwicke who brouglil in ihe Mar- 
 riage Act, and it was for some lime called by his name ; and it was Lord Hardwicke 
 who even tore to pieces a Fleet Register, which was ofl'ercd in evidence. 
 
135 
 
 deration to determine upon their validity or not. It was 
 said the Marriage Act was introduced by Lord Hardwicke 
 and the aristocracy of the time, to prevent young men upon 
 a short acquaintance getting suddenly married ; and I recol- 
 lect one of Mr. Fox's great efforts on the Marriage Act was 
 in the part he took upon the debate, opposing the restrictions 
 which by that Bill were imposed ; he said, 
 
 taedae quoque jure coissent, 
 
 Sed vetuere patres, quod non potuere vetare : 
 Ex aequo captis ardebant mentibus ambo : 
 lines likely to be quoted upon that occasion ; it was a matter 
 of great controversy, but the Bill passed." 
 
 From the current of opinions here expressed by Lord Chief 
 Justice De Grey, by Lord Chief Justice Kenyon, Mr. Justice 
 Le Blanc, Mr. Justice Burrough, and Mr. Baron Vaughan, 
 it seems now to be clearly established that the books usually 
 denominated the Fleet Registers are not receivable in evidence 
 as registers^ and that when tendered they will be rejected. 
 The Cases wherein these Registers were admitted by Mr. 
 Justice Willes in 1780, and by Mr. Justice Heath in 1794, 
 cannot, in the face of subsequent and uniformly adverse deci- 
 sions, be urged in their support; in the former case, moreover, 
 in addition to the Register, evidence of repute and acknow- 
 ledgment was given and received. Their rejection seems 
 founded upon sound principles of law and reason, since it is 
 manifest that the Legislature had no control over the Fleet 
 parsons, who made the entries when and as they pleased: 
 sometimes inserting marriages which were solemnized under 
 false dates, and sometimes recording entries of marriages which 
 they never solemnized at all. 
 
 Still, however, the Fleet Registers do not appear deprived 
 of ever^ degree of authority, since Lord Kenyon was inclin- 
 ed to think that in a Pedigree Case^ they were admissible; 
 
 ' This inclination of opinion iu favour of a Pedigree Case appears rather at 
 variance with the prior decisions. The use to be made of these Registers is for 
 proof of the fact of Marriage, a proof which might be requisite either in the case of 
 a party claiming property of the father as his legitimate son, or in the case of a parly 
 claiming it in a remote degree througii a long pedigree, and il is difficult to con- 
 ceive how these Registers could be used, except for the proof of marriage. 
 
136 
 
 and Lord Eldon was of opinion that in a Pedigree Case, or 
 in an indictment for bigamy, they might be received, not as 
 Registers, but as Declarations. If to this be added their 
 utility, to the genealogist, in a point of view not strictly 
 legal, they will yet remain records, (extending over a period 
 of nearly a century,) of considerable use and importance. 
 
 A general index to these Registers would be of infinite 
 use, and the government would render a public service by 
 devoting a sum of money, adequate to the purpose of remu- 
 nerating some individual, who would be competent to under- 
 take the task. The subject is not unworthy the attention of 
 the Commissioners for Public Records. 
 
137 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MARRIAGES AT THE KING's BENCH PRISON — MINT — SAVOY, 
 AND MAY FAIR. 
 
 The same causes which induced people to marry clan- 
 destinely at the Fleet prison, no doubt operated witii those 
 who married at the King's Bench prison, althou<>;h from 
 the latter prison being situated in the suburbs of London, 
 but comparatively few marriages were performed there. In 
 the neighbourhood of the King''s Bench was a part of the 
 Borough called " The Mint," a place of refuge for thieves 
 and malefactors of the worst description ; which, with Wliite 
 Friars,^ (Sir Walter Scott's Alsatia,) the Savoy, and other 
 places about London, claimed certain privileges, and held 
 out the advantages of a Sanctuary to all debtors, thieves, and 
 malefactors.- At this place marriages were performed, and 
 
 ' By the 8 and 9th William III. Cap. 26, the pretended privileges of White 
 Friars, the Savoy, Salisbury Court, Ram Alley, Mitre Court, Fuller's Rents, 
 Baldwin's Gardens, Montague Close, the Minories, Mint, Clink, or Deadman's 
 Place, were taken away. 
 
 ^ " On Tuesday seven-night last, one Isaac Briand, an Irishman, was fined 
 £2000 by the Court of Lord Mayor and Aldermen, for marrying Elizabeth Watson 
 Aston, an orphan, of about 13 years of age, without the leave of the Court, and 
 was committed to the Gaol of Newgate, there to remain until he shall have paid 
 the said fine. It appeared the said orphan was decoyed from Westminster, where 
 she lodged, to a house near the Fighting Cocks, in the Mint, in Southwark, and 
 there married to the said Briand by one Parson Smith ; and the Court of Aldermen 
 have thereupon ordered Warrants to be obtained for apprehending the said parson 
 and others concerned, in order to their being prosecuted for the same. The Certi- 
 ficate of this marriage given by Parson Smith being very singular, an exact copy of 
 it follows for the entertainment of the public, viz.: — 
 
 Feb. 26, 1715. 
 
 These are, therefore, whom it may concern, that Isaac Briand and Watson Anne 
 Astone were joined together in the Holy Stale of Matrimony, (Nemine Contra- 
 dicenle,) the day and year above written, according to the Rites and Ceremonies 
 of the Church of Great Britain. Witness my hand. Jos. Smith, Cler." 
 
138 
 
 amongst the Fleet Registers are three Registers of King's 
 Bench and Mint marriages. 
 
 The first is a small quarto, (containing also some Fleet 
 marriages,) and at page 48 these marriages commence, headed 
 " Mint Marriages, Anno ITIS."" It ends at page 242, with 
 the 11th Jan. 1726. 
 
 The second Register is a short folio commencing 20 May 
 1725, and ending 9 Oct. 1726. It contains the entries of 
 mai'riages by John Floyd, " at the King's Bench and Liber- 
 ties."" They are worded at some length, and signed by the 
 clergyman and one, two, or three witnesses ; thus, — 
 
 " Oct. 14th, 1725, John RadclifF, of the Parish of Thames Dit- 
 
 ton, and Jane Puflet, of the Parish of Yowill, both of, and in the, 
 
 County of Surrey, were married at the King's Bench, London. 
 
 Witnesses Jno Floyd, Cler. 
 
 JoHx Darby, Over against the Goat and 
 
 James Rootsey. Crown, five doors within 
 
 Mint Gate, near St. George's 
 Church." 
 
 "March 24th, 1725, Thomas Panks, of the Parish of Hodsden, 
 and Mary Munk of the Parish of Tirring, in Sussex, married. 
 This was a Certificate granted without a marriage." 
 
 " On the 2 day of August 1726, on the oath of Catherine Cane 
 Senor, I gave a Certificate of her daughter's, Alee Cane, marriage. 
 One of Thomas Bennett's Certificate. Certificate dated on the 
 22 day of June 1723. 
 
 " Sign'd J. E. MiNS." 
 
 There are about 360 marriages in this book, and at 
 the end are some old Law entries of the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 The third King's Bench Register is a short thick folio, 
 containing marriages at the Fleet also. At page 3 it is in- 
 tituled " INIarriages in Southwark," commencing with 20tli 
 Nov. 1736. At page 6 begin " Fleet Marriages." 
 
 There is another Register which is considered to be a 
 King's Bench or Mint Register, as the parties married arc 
 chiefly from Kent and Surrey. It is intituled, 
 
139 
 
 " A Register of Christenings and Marriages, commencing 
 March 13, 1732-3, by the Rev. Mich. Barrett." 
 
 It ends Aug. 14th 1751, and has about 500 marriages. 
 The following are a few of the marriages at the Mint : — 
 
 1725 Sept. 27. Wm. Bayley, Hawkhurst, and Ann Compion, 
 
 Croydon. 
 1724 Mar. 12. Christ" Burningham, of Rely, and Mary Anderson, 
 
 of Salsbury. 
 1724 May 4. Ab" Clegg, Rochester, and Mary Taylor, Ditto. 
 
 1718 Oct. 6. Edward Cook, Coodham, and Ann Phillips, S. Ditto. 
 
 1726 Jan. 11. Jn" Douglas, Sutton, Surrey, and Fra* Moore, 
 
 1722 July 14. Martin Joseph Manvell Kelly and Joannah Bing. 
 
 1719 Jan. 7. Joseph Lancaster, Sundridge, and Eliz. Stinham, Do. 
 1718 Nov. 9. Robt. Long, Gent. St. Bride's, and Anna Maria 
 
 Rugly, Ditto. 
 
 1720 Aug. 17. John Mandavill and Mary Martin. 
 
 1724 Mar. 22. R'' Pierce, Tunbridge, and Sarah Cooper, Ditto. 
 1720 Jan. 17. Wm. Reynolds and Hannah Burleigh. 
 1720 April 13. Thos. Samirell and Mary Twisden. 
 
 1723 Mar. 27. Tho' Wolfe and Isabella Lamb. 
 
 THE SAVOY. 
 
 Although the Savoy was one of those places with pretend- 
 ed privileges, there does not appear to have been any clan- 
 destine marriages there until after the passing of the Mar- 
 riage Act ; the number of marriages for a few years before 
 and after that period being as follows : — 
 1752 . . 15 
 
 —3 
 
 19 
 
 —4 
 
 342 
 
 —5 
 
 1190), 
 63) 
 
 -6 
 
 —7 
 
 13 
 
 —8 
 
 17 
 
 On the passing of the Marriage Act, the Rev. John Wil- 
 
 ' On the trial of Mr. Wilkinson, his Cleik deposed that of these 900 came out 
 of the country enceinte. 
 
140 
 
 kinson^ began to exercise his supposed rights as Minister 
 of the Savoy, considering himself authorised to grant licences 
 as a privilege annexed to the Savoy, as being extra parochial, 
 and because Dr. Killegrew and other of his predecessors had 
 granted them. The Savoy, therefore, soon became known 
 as a place for easy matrimony, and his marriages brought 
 him " a profusion of cash, and instead of thinking of a rainy 
 day, all was rat tat tat at the street door, and a variety of 
 company. Easter-day was crowded from 8 till 12. So 
 many pairs were for the indissoluble knot being tied, that he 
 might have made a fortune had he been blessed with patience 
 and prudence, and been contented with publishing the banns 
 of marriage only. Many persons came out of curiosity to 
 hear such a long list of Spinsters announced. "- 
 
 Mr. Wilkinson had hints from Government of the conse- 
 (pience likely to ensue from these practices; at length pro- 
 ceedings were taken against him, and he was accustomed to 
 make his escape over the leads at the Savoy, through the 
 kitchen of the prison, (which was tlien there,) to a private 
 door into the chapel, to evade those who were set to watch him. 
 
 One Sunday morning an alarm was given, that the officers 
 were in the church ; a general panic ensued in his family ; he 
 sent word that he was taken suddenly ill, and could not read 
 prayers, and made his way down the garden to a gate that 
 opened on the Thames, reached Somerset Stairs, where he 
 took a boat and got into Kent. Having arrived there, he 
 engaged Mr. Grierson to perform the marriages as his curate ; 
 but the licences he granted himself, thinking that jNIr. Grier- 
 son could not suffer for what he, in his authority as Minister 
 of the Savoy, was to be responsible for. 
 
 ' The Register describes him as " His Majesty's Chaplain of the Savoy, Chap- 
 lain to his late Royal Highness Frederick Prince of Wales, Rector of Easlwell, 
 Kent, and Curate of Wye ;" in 1732 he is described as Rector of C'oyley, in the 
 County of Glamorgan, and Stipendiary Curate of Wye. He was educated at St. 
 Kees, in Cumberland, and finished his studies at Oxford. He came to the Savoy in 
 1725, and was married there on the 26tli April 1731, to Grace, daughter of Alder- 
 man Tale, of Carlisle. 
 
 - W ilkinson's JMeraoirs. 
 
141 
 
 Veiy shortly after this, Mr. Vcrnoii, of Driiry Lane 
 Theatre, was married by Mr. (iriersoii, to Miss Porticr. 
 Garrick insisted on seeing the certificate, which Mr. Vernon 
 obtained from Mr. Grierson, and gave to Garrick, who 
 handed it over to Mr. Carrington, the King's Messenger. 
 Mr. Grierson was thereupon taken up and tried for having 
 married the parties ; was convicted, and transported for 
 fourteen years. ^ In his defence he said he was not aware of 
 the illegality of the marrying at the Savoy, as he had married 
 his own son there. 
 
 After the connnittal of Mr. Grierson, Mr. Wilkinson en- 
 oao-ed the Rev. Mr. Brooks as his curate, and continued to 
 derive great profits from his marriages. Considering him- 
 self certain of an acquittal, he determined to surrender him- 
 self and take his trial, which he accordingly did on the 11th 
 July 1756 : he was tried on the l6th ; convicted, and sen- 
 tenced to fourteen years' transportation. The vessel which 
 was to take him to America sailed early in March 1757; but 
 by stress of weather was driven to Plymouth, where Mr. 
 Wilkinson died from an attack of the gout. His widow died 
 in 1763. He left an only child, Tate Wilkinson, the cele- 
 brated Comedian. 
 
 MAY FAIR. 
 
 May Fair stands next to the Fleet in notoriety, and per- 
 haps pre-eminently, so far as regards the number of fashion- 
 able clandestine marriages. 
 
 ' " It is said he had married 1400 couple in the same manner and place, whose 
 marriages by this verdict are null and void, and the issue of them illegitimate." 
 (Gent's Mag.) He had a large family, whicli accompanied him on his transporta- 
 tion ; but it is believed he died on his passage. In the announcement of his con- 
 viction he is called " a nonjuring Clergyman," and in the Daily Advertiser of Dec. 
 24, 1755, is an advertisement of his, dated from Newgate, where he defends his 
 conduct and principles, and concludes with an appeal to the public for their bene- 
 ficence towards the support of his wife, children, and grand-cliild. He had been 
 tried in 1748, " for marrying Jonathan Brooks to Miss INIary Redding, Spinster, 
 in an empty house, against her will." 
 
 One or two Acts have been passed for legalizing marriages solemnized in 
 churches and chapels where banns had not been " theretofore usually published." 
 — See Burn's History of Parish Registers, 1829, 8v(). p. 33. Su'er, Cheapside. 
 
142 
 
 The chapel was built about 1730, in consequence of the 
 increase of new Squares and Streets in that neighbourhood, 
 and the person chosen to officiate there was the Renowned 
 and Rev. Alexander Keith, who began to marry ad libitum, 
 and to advertize in the papers the advantages of a wedding 
 at May Fair, where Lord Orford describes him to have con- 
 structed a very Bishopric of revenue. These practices gave 
 offence to Dr. Trebeck, then Rector of St. George's, Hanover 
 Square, who commenced a suit at Doctors' Commons against 
 Mr. Keith, to which he appeared personally, and defended 
 himself at considerable length ;^ not, however, with success, 
 for on the 27th Oct. 1742, he was decreed excommunicated,'^ 
 and on the 24th of January following a significavit was de- 
 creed for his apprehension. 
 
 In April 1743 he was committed to the Fleet ;3 but the 
 weddings nevertheless continued* at May Fair,^ where he 
 fitted up a house as a chapel, as will appear by the following 
 advertisement : — 
 
 " To prevent mistakes, the little new chapel in May Fair, near 
 Hyde Park corner, is in the corner house opposite to the City side 
 
 ' In his allegations he stated that he had been ordained priest by the Bishop of 
 Norwich, by Letters Dimissory from the Bisliop of London, about the 13th of June 
 1731. That he was appointed one of the preachers by an Instrument under the 
 hands and seals of the major part of the proprietors of the chapel. That at the 
 time of his nomination he was Reader at the Rolls' Chapel. 
 
 * Keith hereupon retaliated, and had the impudence to excommunicate at his 
 chapel Bishop Gibson, Dr. Andrews, Judge of the Court, and Dr. Trebeck. 
 
 ^ The Daily Post says, " to Newgate, for contempt of the Holy and Mother 
 Church." 
 
 '' Horace Walpole in a letter to Mr. afterwards Sir Horace Mann, dated Ar- 
 lington Street, Feb. 27, 1752, says, " The event which has made most noise since 
 my last is the extempore wedding of the youngest of tiie two Gunnings," and then 
 describes an assembly at Lord Chesterfield's, where the Duke of Hamilton made 
 love to Miss Gunning, and then proceeds, " However, two nights afterwards being 
 left alone with her whilst her mother and sister were at Bedford House, he found 
 himself so impatient that he sent for a parson. The Doctor refused to perforin the 
 ceremony without licence and ring. The Duke swore he would send for the Arch- 
 bishop ; at last they were married with a ring of the bed-curtain, at half an hour 
 past twelve at night, at May Fair chapel." — Vol. iii. p. 51. 
 
 •'■ " We hear that a Bill will be presented to Parliament for the suppression of 
 the chapel in May Fair." — General Atlverlifer, Jan, 1750. 
 
143 
 
 of the great cliapel, and within ten yards of it, and the Minister 
 and Clerk Hve in the same corner house, where the httle chapel 
 is, and the License on a Crown Stamp, Minister and Clerk's fees, 
 together with the Certificate, amount to one guinea as heretofore 
 at any hour till four in the afternoon. And that it may be the 
 better known, there is a porch at the door like a country church 
 porch." — Daily Post, July 20, 1744. 
 
 Various reports were circulated after his imprisonment; 
 one was, that he had a Little Chapel in the Fleet, where in 
 one year he married thousands, while the Rector of St. Anns, 
 a large and populous parish, married but fifty within the same 
 pei'iod ;^ and in the case of Morris v. Miller, (Easter Term 
 1767,) it was stated that Keith who had married the parties 
 was transported, and the clerk dead. No marriages of 
 Keith's have been met with in the Fleet, nor has it been 
 found that he was ever transported, but he died in the Fleet 
 Prison on the 13th December 1758.2 
 
 He appears to have employed as his curates at his Little 
 Chapel in May Fair, the Rev. Peter Symson, and Francis 
 Denevau, who were also Fleet Clergymen, and of whom 
 
 ' Gentleman's Magazine. 
 
 ' Four of liis sons were buried at Norwood in Middlesex. His wife died in 
 
 1749, while he was in the Fleet, upon which he had her corpse embalmed and kept 
 it unburied many months, which seems to have been done to excite public curiosity 
 and inquiry, for one of his advertisements in the Daily Advertiser of 23d January 
 
 1750, is as follows : — 
 
 " We are informed that I\Irs. Keith's corpse was removed from her Husband's 
 House in May Fair the middle of October last to an Apothecary's in South Audley 
 St. where she lies in a room hung with mourning, and is to continue there till Mr. 
 Keith can attend the Funeral. The way to Mr. Keith's Chapel is through Picca- 
 dilly by the end of St. James's Street and down Clarges Street, and turn on the left 
 hand. The marriages (together with a licence on a five shilling stamp and certifi- 
 cate) are carried on for a guinea as usual, any time till four in the afternoon, by 
 another regular clergyman at Mr. Keith's little Chapel in Rlay Fair near Hyde 
 Park Corner, opposite the great Chapel and within ten yards of it ; there is a porch 
 at the door like a country church porch." 
 
 In 1748, another of his sons dying, he had the corpse carried on a bier by two 
 men from the Fleet to Covent Garden church yard. In their progress they made 
 several halts, and crowds of people assembled to read the inscription which referred 
 to the father's persecution. — Craftsman, Angnst 6th 1748. 
 
144 
 
 particulars have been already given, also the Rev. John 
 Grierson, and Mr. Walker.^ 
 
 Keith appears to have been in prison fifteen years. In 
 1753 he publislied a pamphlet intituled " Observations on 
 the Act for preventing Clandestine Marriages," pp. 32 ; to 
 whicli is prefixed an engraving of him as " The Rev. Mr. 
 Keith, D.D." A few of his remarks, as connected with the 
 subject of these pages, are as follow : — " Happy is the wooing 
 that is not long a-doing ; is an old proverb and a very true 
 one, but we shall have no occasion for it after the 25th day 
 of March next, when we are commanded to read it back- 
 wards and from that period (fatal indeed to Old England !) 
 we must date the declension of the numbers of the inhabit- 
 ants of England." " As I have married many thousands, 
 and consequently have on those occasions seen the humour 
 of the lower class of people, I have often asked the married 
 pair how long they had been acquainted ; they would reply, 
 some more, some less, but the generality did not exceed the 
 acquaintance of a week, some only of a day, half a day, Sic." 
 " Another inconveniency which will arise from this Act will 
 be, that the ex pence of being married will be so great, that 
 few of the lower class of people can afford ; for I have often 
 heard a Flete-parson say, that many have come to be mar- 
 ried when they have had but half-a-crown in their pockets, 
 and sixpence to buy a pot of beer, and for which they have 
 pawned some of their cloaths." " I remember once on a 
 time, I was at a public house at RadclifF, which then was 
 full of sailors and their girls, there there was fiddling, piping, 
 jigging, and eating ; at length, one of the tars starts up, 
 and says ' D — m ye. Jack, Fll be married just now ; I will 
 have my partner, and ' TItc joke took , and in less 
 
 ' In 1746, Thomas Brown being indicted for Bigamy, the first marriage was 
 proved to have taken place at May Fair, and the second at the Anchor and Crown 
 Fleet Ditch, and the following evidence was given : — 
 
 Diumviovd. — " Mr. Keith has a person to olficiate for him, one Mr. Walker 
 marries, and 1 carry the licences to Mr. Keith and he registers them." 
 
 John Prichard. — " I acted as clerk, I am a carver by trade and keep a public 
 house." 
 
145 
 
 thcan two hours ten couple set out for the Flete. I staid their 
 return. They returned in coaches ; five women in each 
 coach ; the tars, some running before, others riding on the 
 coach-box, and otliers behind. The cavalcade being over, 
 the couples went up into an upper room, where they con- 
 cluded the evening with great jollity. The next time I went 
 that way, I called on my landlord and asked him concerning 
 this marriage adventure : he at first stared at me, but recol- 
 lecting, he said those things were so frequent, that he hardly 
 took any notice of them ; for added he, it is a common thing 
 when a fleet comes in, to have two or three hundred mar- 
 riages in a week's time, among the sailors." He humorously 
 concludes — " If the present Act in the form it now stands 
 should (which I am sure is impossible) be of service to my 
 country, I shall then have the satisfaction of having been 
 the occasion of it, because the compilers thereof have done 
 it with a pure design of suppressing my Chapel, which makes 
 me the most celebrated man in this kingdom, though not the 
 greatest." 
 
 The passing of the Marriage Act put a stop to the mar- 
 riages at May Fair ; but the day before the Act came into 
 operation, (Lady Day 1754,)' sixty-one couple were married 
 there.- 
 
 ' In a letter to George Montagu, Esq. dated July 17, 1753, Horace VValpole 
 says :— 
 
 " Lady Anne Paulett's daughter is elcped with a country clergyman. The 
 Duchess of Aig)le harangues against the i\Iairiage Bill not taking place iinnie- 
 diately, and is persuaded that all the girls will go off before next Lady-day." 
 
 ^ In a letter to George Montagu, Esq. from Horace Walpole, is the following 
 
 notice of Keith : — 
 
 Strawberry Hill, 11th June. 1753. 
 
 " I shall only tell you a Ion mot of Keith's the marriage-broker, and conclude : 
 
 " Ci — d d — n the Bishops!" said he, (1 beg Miss Montagu's pardon) so they 
 
 will hinder my marrying. Well, let 'em, but I'll be revenged : I'll buy two or 
 
 three acres of ground, and by G — d I'll under-bury them all." — Vol, i. p. 292. 
 
 And in No. 38 of the Connoisseur (October 1754) are some satirical remarks on 
 
 the effect of the iNIarriage Act on Mr. Keith's Chapel ; the writer says, " I received 
 
 a scheme from my good friend Mr. Keith, whose Chapel, the late Marriage Act has 
 
 rendered useless on its original principles. The reverend gentleman seeing that 
 
 all husbands and wives are heuceforv. ard to be put up on sale, proposes shortly to 
 
146 
 
 THE MAY FAIR REGISTERS. 
 
 These Registers are divided, some being at the Church of 
 St. George's Hanover Square, and the others at the Regis- 
 try of the Bishop of London, but several of the latter appear 
 to be du})licates, and contain the same entries as the Registers 
 at St. George''s. 
 
 Those at St. George''s are three in number, marked re- 
 spectively A. B. and C. In two of these is an affidavit sworn 
 in 1780, by James Frith senior, stating, that being employed 
 to look over the effects of Mr. Keith, he had found these 
 three books and brought them from the Fleet ; and that up 
 to 1743 or 4 the marriages were performed in May Fair 
 chapel, but afterwards in a house near the chapel. 
 
 open his chapel on a more new and fashionable plan. As the ingenious Messrs. 
 Ilenson and Bever have lately opened in different quarters of the town repositories 
 for all horses to be sold by auction, Mr. Keith intends setting up a Repository for 
 all young males and females to be disposed of in marriage. From these studs (as 
 tlie Doctor himself expresses it) a lady of beauty may be coupled to a man of for- 
 tune, and an old gentleman who has a colt's tooth remaining, may match himself 
 with a tight young filly. The Doctor makes no doubt but liis chapel will turn out 
 even more to his advantage on this new plan, than on its first institution, provided 
 he can secure his scheme to himself and reap the benefits of it without interhipers 
 from the Fleet. To prevent his design being pirated he intends petitioning tiie 
 Parliament, that as he has been so great a sufferer by the Marriage Act, the sole 
 right of opening a Repository of this sort may be vested in him, and that his place 
 of residence in May Fair may still continue the grand mart for marriages." 
 
 " Catalogue of Males and Females to be disposed of in Marriage to the best 
 bidder, at Mr. Keith's Repository, in ]\Iay Fair. 
 
 A young lady of £100,000 fortune — to be bid for by none under the degree of 
 peers, or a commoner of at least treble the income. 
 
 A homely thing who can read, write, cast accounts, and make an excellent pud- 
 ding. This lot to be bid for by none but country parsons. 
 
 A very pretty young woman, but a good deal in debt — would be glad to mairy a 
 member of parliament, or a Jew. 
 
 A blood of the first-rate, very wild, and lias run loose all liis life, but is now 
 broke, and will prove very tractable. 
 
 Five Templars — all Irish — No one to bid for these lots of less than £10,000 
 fortune. 
 
 Wanted four do^en of young fellows, and one doicn of youni,' womem, willing to 
 luarry to advantage — to go to Nova Scotia." 
 
147 
 
 Book A commences ^1 February 1735 and ends 27 July 
 1744. It is intituled " An Account or Register of Mar- 
 riages at St. George''s Chapel Hyde Park Corner in tlie 
 Liberty of Westminster."" The entries are numbered and 
 amount to 1020, and are nearly all signed by Mr. Keith. 
 At the other end of the book are baptisms from 2G March 
 1740 to 7 April 1753. 
 
 Book B commences 28 July 1744 and ends 30 Sept. 1749, 
 the numbering begins with 1021 and continues to 3529, when 
 the entries cease to be numbered. There are about 5000 
 entries in this book. 
 
 Book C commences 30 Sept. 1749, and ends 25 March 
 1754 : from Oct. 1753 to 25 March 1754 are 1136 entries. 
 On the 2d January 1751 is the following entry, — 
 
 « W" Thomas and Sarah Snow of St. Maries Overy Soutliwark" 
 " Memo" she being surprised by meeting two gentlemen of her 
 acquaintance as she was going into the chapel, gave her mother's 
 name (Snow) instead of her father's sirname, Yates." 
 
 The books at the Bishop's Registry are seven in number. 
 No. 1. A short folio commencing 19 March 1729 and 
 ending 31 May 1731, intituled " Dr. Keith's Regestar Rook 
 of Marriages, No. 3, May Fair." It contains about 1300 
 entries, and has an index. 
 
 No. 2. A thin short folio, commencing 29 Sept. 1747, 
 ending 28 Sept. 1749, intituled, " The Register Book of 
 Marriages performed by John Grierson, Minister, at May 
 Fair Chapel," and indorsed " No. 2. Register of Marriages, 
 1747, 1748, 1749. May Fair." It contains 2403 entries, and 
 at the other end are Baptisms from 1747 to 1752, several of 
 which are of the Peterborough family. 
 
 No. 3. A short thick folio, commencing 29 Sept. 1749, 
 ending SI Oct. 1753, indorsed " No. 3. Register for Mar- 
 riages May Fair." It contains 6258 entries. 
 
 No. 4. A short folio of Fleet marriages, at one end of 
 which are " INIarriages performed by Mr. Symson at ^lay 
 Fair in 1748." It commences 12 April 1748 and contains 86 
 entries, after which is added " No. 86, all married by Mr. 
 Symson at May Fair." 
 
148 
 
 No. 5. A folio, intituled " The Register Book of Mar- 
 riages begun April 9, 1748, at the New Chapel May Fair." 
 The marriages are all by Mr. Symson, but many of them 
 appear to be Fleet marriages. It has an index. 
 
 No. 6. A small quarto, commencing 9 Dec. 1750, ending 
 25 March 1754, intituled, " The Register Book of Mar- 
 riages performed by the Reverend Mr. Peter Symson, Mr. 
 Fran^ Denevau, for Keith May Fair." 
 
 No. 7. A thin folio, ending 25 March 1754, indorsed 
 *' No. 1. Dr. Keith's Book. The Register for Marriages, 
 
 I November 1753, 1754, May Fair." It has an index. 
 
 THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF THE MARRIAGES AT MAY FAIR. 
 
 31 Oct. 1729. John Bayley, Student, Middle Temple, and Mary 
 
 Meredith, St. Clement's Danse, B. and S. 
 29 June 1753. Lord George Bentinck and Mary Davies, Hanwell. 
 
 II Aug. 1729. Morgan Brignal, Gent. Harrietsham, Kent, and 
 
 Betty Puxty, Ditto, W. and S. 
 13 May 1752. Richard Brooke, Esq. and Frances Croft. 
 
 15 Mar. 1730. John Campfield, Esq. St. George's Hanover Square, 
 
 and Harriet Doyne, Ditto. 
 25 June 1749. George Cardale, Rector of Wanlip, Leicester, and 
 Eliz. Morris. 
 
 23 Mar. 1748. Honble. George Carpenter' and Frances Clifton. 
 
 19 May 1748. Charles Chauncey, Esq. St. Clement's, and Eliz. 
 Lloyd, Lothbury. 
 
 24 Oct. 1747. Capt. Charles Cockburn, St. James's, and Margaret 
 
 Holford, Hanwell. 
 10 May 1731. Thomas Collier, Gent. Richmond, and Alice Toon, 
 
 Ditto, B. and S. 
 6 July 1750. John Coppendale, Minister of Monkton, co. York, 
 
 and Elizabeth Preston, of Ditto. 
 8 Sept. 1729. Simon Darby, Gent. St. Martin's Fields, and Mary 
 
 Pindergrass, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 16 Oct. 1752. Edward D'Oyley, Gent, and Mary D'Oyley. 
 
 ' yVftcrwartls third Lord Carpenter, created Earl of Tyrconnel 1761, ol). 176'2. 
 She was daughter and heir of 8ir Robert Clifton of Clifton, co. \otls. IJaronct. 
 
149 
 
 14 Feb. 1752. James Duke of Hamilton and £liz. Gunning.' 
 
 17 April 1753. Stanhope llerries and Millicent Constable, St. 
 George's, South vvark. 
 
 15 April 1729. Charles JefFryson, Gent. Covent Garden, and Sarah 
 
 Thomson, Ditto, B. and S. 
 
 14 Sept. 1749. Wm. Earl of Kensington &Rachel Hill, Hempstead. 
 12 Oct. 1729. John Lavington, Gent. St. Bride's, and Sarah Jen- 
 nings, Bermondsey, B. and S. 
 
 6 Oct. 1747. Alexander Lennox and Barbara Ramsey, St. Ann's 
 
 Westminster. 
 26 Feb. 1754. Rev. Edmund Lodge' & Mary Garrard, Carshalton. 
 
 8 Feb. 1750. John Markett, Esq. and Eliz. Temple, B. and S. 
 31 Aug. 1749. William Montague & Gertrude Turner, St. James's. 
 31 Aug. 1753. George Montague Martin and Eliz, Berkeley, St. 
 
 George's Hanover Square. 
 21 July 1751. Edward Wortley Montague and Eliz. Ashe, St. 
 
 Martin's fields. 
 21 Oct. 1747. John Luke Nicoll, Esq. Mountfield, Sussex, and 
 
 Eliz. Gray, St. George's Hanover Square. 
 
 15 Mar. 1730. Hyde Parker, Gent, and Elizabeth Beaver, B. & S. 
 
 16 April 1749. Geo. Parkyns, Esq. & Anne Levett of Bunny, Notts.' 
 
 17 July 1748, Rd. Petenger, Esq. Chertsey, and Ann Weaver, 
 
 Odiham. 
 
 7 May 1752. Harry Powlett and Mary Nunn, Eltham. 
 
 26 July 1753. Edmund Powlett, Gent, and Sarah Jones, Chelsea. 
 30 June 1752. Bysshe Shelley and Mary Cath. Michell, Horsham." 
 
 ' She was second daughter of John Gunning of Castle Coote, co. Roscom- 
 mon, hy Bridget, daughter of Theobald sixth Viscount JNIayo. The Duke dying 
 1758, she married secondly the 3rd March 1759, John Campbell fifth Duke of 
 Argylle, and on the 20th Maj 1776 was created a Peeress of Great Britain by 
 the title of Baroness Hamilton of Hameldon, co, Leicester. Maria Gunning, 
 the eldest daughter, married 5th March 1752, George William sixth Earl of Coven- 
 try, and died 1760, These ladies were celebrated as the most distinguished 
 beauties of the day. 
 
 2 Instituted Rector of Carshalton, co. Surrey, 5th December 1738. Edmund 
 Lodge, Esq. Norroy, K. H., a gentleman distinguished in the literary world by his 
 " Illustrious Portraits," is the son of this marriage. 
 
 ' George Parkyns, an officer in the 15th or King's Light Dragoons, brother of Sii 
 Thos. Parkyns, of Bunny, co. Notts. Baronet. Ann, daughter and co-hcirof Ellon 
 Levett, of Nottingham, M.D. 
 
 * Of Castle Goring, co. Sussex, died 1815. Mary Catherine, only child and 
 heir of Rev. Theobald Michell, of Horsham, died November 1760. 
 
150 
 
 25 May 1751. Honourable Sewallis Sliirley' and Margaret Countess 
 
 of Orford. 
 24 Sept. 1748. William Scudamore and Jane Ravenhill. 
 7 Mar. 1753. Wra. Shirley, Esq. and Madalane Julie le Blanc, St. 
 
 Margaret's. 
 12 April 1753. Andrew Sproule, Esq. and Catherine Moucher. 
 15 Mar. 1753. James Stewart Stewart and Catherine Holloway, of 
 
 St. Matthew's, Friday Street. 
 7 Mar. 1749. Cecil Trafford & Elizabeth Short, St. Martin's Fields. 
 15 June 1752. Henry Trelawney, Esq. and Mary Dormer, St. 
 
 Margaret's. 
 14 Nov. 1729. William Yeats, Gent. S"^ Guards, and Catherine 
 
 Jordan, Westr. W. and W. 
 
 ' Fourth son of Robert Earl Ferrers, died 1763. She was daughter and heir of 
 Samuel Rolle of Heanton, co. Devon, and widow of Robert Walpole second Earl 
 of Orford, and died at Pisa 1781. 
 
 I 
 
151 
 
 A LIST OF SOME OF THE CHAPELS IN AND AIJOUT LONDON AT 
 
 wiircii marria{;es weke perfohmed, prior to the mar- 
 
 UIAGE act. 
 
 Those marked thus 
 *Ask's Hospital Chapel. 
 *Berwick-street Chapel. 
 *Bridewell Chapel. 
 
 Chelsea College Chapel. 
 ■^Charter House Chapel. 
 
 Conduit-street Chapel. 
 "Duke-street Chapel, Westm"^' 
 
 Dulvvich College Chapel. 
 
 Devonshire Square Meeting. 
 
 Ely House Chapel. 
 *Gray's Inn Chapel. 
 
 Great Queen- street Chapel, 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields. 
 
 Grosvenor Square Chapel. 
 
 Guildhall Chapel. 
 *Highgate Chapel.*^ 
 
 Hampton Court Chapel. 
 
 Kensington Palace Chapel. 
 
 Kentish Town Chapel. 
 
 King-street Chapel, Regent-st. 
 
 Knightsbridge Chapel. 
 
 Lambe Chapel. 
 •Lincoln's Inn Chapel. 
 
 Long Acre Chapel. 
 
 London House Chapel. 
 *]\Iercer's Chapel.' 
 
 " have a Register. 
 
 Morden College Chapel. 
 
 New Chapel, Westminster. 
 
 Newgate Prison Chapel. 
 
 New-street Chapel, St. Giles's. 
 
 Northall Chapel. 
 
 Oxenden Chapel. 
 *Oxford Chapel.-* 
 
 Poplar Chapel. 
 *Queen Square Chapel. 
 
 Ram's Chapel, Homerton. 
 ♦Rolls' Chapel. 
 
 Russell Court Chapel, Drury 
 Lane. 
 *St. James's Palace Chapel.' 
 *St. John's Chapel, Clerkenwell. 
 
 St. John's Chapel, Bedford Row. 
 
 Serjeant's Inn Chapel. 
 *Somerset House Chapel.^ 
 *Southgate Chapel. 
 
 Spring Garden Chapel. 
 *Temple Church. 
 
 Trinity Chapel, Mile End. 
 *Wheeler's Chapel, Spitalfields.' 
 *Whitehall Chapel.' 
 
 Wapping Chapel. 
 
 * This Register was for some time the private property of Mr. Vincent, Chapter 
 C lerk of Westminster, but is now placed with the Registers of Westminster Abbey. 
 
 * This Register is now removed to the new Church. 
 
 ^ At the instance of the author of this work this Register was neatly copied on 
 parchment and bound in russia, and sent to the Registry of the Bishop of London. 
 ■* This Register is with those of Marylebone. 
 
 * One of these is in the liishop of London's Registry, the others at the Bishop's 
 house in St. James's Square. 
 
 ® This Register was purchased by Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill, Baronet, 
 at a sale some years since. He has had extracts from it printed. 
 ' This is in the hands of the Trustees of the Cliapel. 
 ^ This is at the Bishop of London's Registry. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Acts of Parlinment, 6, 11, 16. 
 Alley, Jerome, 10. 
 Ashwell, Edward, 62. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bagnio, marriage at a, 74. 
 Banns, first directed, 3. 
 Bassett, Bartholomew, 10, 62. 
 B — y House, marriage at, 76. 
 Biscuit, broken, a ceremony, 88. 
 
 C. 
 
 Castell, Robert, 33. 
 Caroon House, temporary prison, 45. 
 Ceremony — see Biwuit liroken. 
 Certificate, antedated, 73, 74, 75, 80. 
 Churclies, lawless, described, 3. 
 Chapels, where marriages performed 
 
 prior to 1754, 151. 
 Christian names only registered, 75, 76, 
 
 77, 87, 88, 90. 
 Clerk, at Fleet Weddings, 69. 
 Colton, James, 10, 60. 
 Contracts, per verba de prajsenti, 1 . 
 Cooke V. Lloyd, 132. 
 Crawford, Thomas, 57. 
 Cuthbert, Robert, 57. 
 
 D 
 
 Dare, William, 55. 
 
 E 
 
 Klborrow, Uobort, 10, 56. 
 Espousals, entry of, in Register, 2. 
 
 . customs relating to, ih. 
 
 Excomnmnication for daiKlestine mar- 
 riage, 13. 
 
 Fielding, Handsome, and Duchess of 
 
 Cleveland, 62. 
 Fleet, origin of marriages at, 5. 
 Parson, convicted of forty-two 
 
 oaths, 7. 
 
 selling liquors, 56. 
 
 marrying in a night-gown, 
 
 ■ drunk, 90. 
 
 a beggar, 62. 
 
 — Parsons, list of, 49. 
 
 an heiress married at, against her 
 
 will, 7. 
 wedding, engraving of, 8. 
 
 Bishop's Visitation at, 9. 
 
 Practices in the reign of Queen 
 
 Ann, 10. 
 
 in 1723, 13. 
 
 in 1735, 14. 
 
 Marriage, legacy for, 16. 
 
 Prison^ 32. 
 
 removed to South Lambeth, 45. 
 
 Wardens of, 34. 
 
 Chaplains, 48. 
 
 INIarriages noticed by M TAbbe 
 
 le Blanc, 81. 
 
 Registers, the earliest, 71. 
 
 _^-^ account of, 66. 
 
 purchased by Govern- 
 ment, 70. 
 
 extracts from, 73. 
 
 not evidence, 127. 
 
 ■ Indexes wanted, 136. 
 
 naines of persons married there, 
 
 94. 
 
 Floud, John, 55. 
 
 Fox, Hon. Henry, his marriage at the 
 Fleet, 16. 
 
 his opposition to 
 
 Marriage Act, 16, 18, 19, 25. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 153 
 
 Gaynam, Dr. 49. 
 
 ■ verses on, 51. 
 
 Grierson, Rev. John, transported, 141. 
 Guernsey, the land of matrimony, 20. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hamilton, Duke of, married at May 
 
 Fair, 142. 
 Husband, hired, 82, 83, 90, 92. 
 
 I. 
 
 Jurisdiction, see Privileged Places. 
 
 K. 
 
 King's Bench Prison, Registers, 138. 
 
 marriages at, 137. 
 
 Keith, Alex., the famous, 142. 
 
 his excommunication, 142. 
 
 his retaliation, ih. 
 
 ^—^— imprisonment, ib. 
 
 — ^— his pamphlet on the Mar- 
 riage Act, 144. 
 
 family, 143. 
 
 — • death, ib. 
 
 his catalogue of sale, 146. 
 
 Lando, James, 58, 67. 
 Lawrance v. Dixon, 128. 
 Legitimate, a child half so, 90. 
 Lilly, Joshua, 62. 
 
 John, 63. 
 
 Lloyd V. Passingham, 133. 
 V. Evans, 134. 
 
 M. 
 
 Marriage, Clandestine, 1. 
 
 Act, the Earl of Orford's ac- 
 count of the introduction and pass- 
 ing, 22. 
 
 — Blackstone's Commentary on, 
 
 21. 
 
 . attempts to repeal, 21. 
 
 ■ of two women, 77, 79, 90. 
 
 • ceremonies at the Fleet, 88. 
 . in bed, 93. 
 
 ■ houses, keepers of, 62. 
 in terrorem, 76, 93. 
 
 • as far as the ring, 88. 
 
 ■ in part, 74, 76. 
 antedated, 73, 74, 75, 80. 
 
 ■ at a cook-shop, 74. 
 bagnio, 74. 
 
 Marriage at a b— dy house, 76. 
 shoemaker's, 93. 
 
 ' at Newgate, 74. 
 
 • of woman in a shift, 77. 
 
 May Fair marriages, 141. 
 
 Duke of Hamilton married 
 
 therewith a curtain ring, 142. 
 some of the persons married 
 
 there, 148. 
 
 ■ Registers, 146. 
 
 Mint, marriages at, 137. 
 
 Registers, 138. 
 
 names of some persons married 
 
 there, 139. 
 Misrule, Master of, killed in the Fleet, 39. 
 Mottram, John, his conviction, 11, 56. 
 
 O. 
 
 Olive, Mrs. 68. 
 Onell, V. Madox, 129. 
 Owen, Thomas, 64, 68. 
 
 P. 
 
 Panton, Benjamin, 69. 
 
 Parson, blind, 61. 65. 
 
 Parsons, Fleet, List of, 49. 
 
 Passingham v. Lloyd, 129. 
 
 Personate, Men and Women hired to, 
 
 65. 77. 
 Pocket Books of the Fleet Parsons, 75, 
 
 90. 
 Privileged Places, 137. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quaker married at the Fleet, 84. 
 
 R. 
 
 Reedv. Passer, 130. 
 Rogers, Nehemiah, 10, 61. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sacrament after a Fleet Wedding, 87. 
 
 St. James's, Duke's Place, pretended, 
 exemption, 3. 
 
 Rector sus- 
 pended, 3. 
 
 Register of. 
 
 4. 
 
 Savoy, JNIarriages at, 20, 139. 
 
 Minister and Curate transported. 
 
 141. 
 
 — practices at, 139 — 141. 
 
 S.iy and Sele, case of, 131. 
 Scroope's, Miss, account of her marriage 
 at the Fleet, 69. 
 
X54 INDEX. 
 
 Shadwell, Ralph, a blind Parson, 61. 
 
 Sham Certificates, 74. 
 Shellburn, Anthony, 61, 68. 
 Shift, aiarriage in a, 77. 
 Skimmington described, 9. 
 Starkey, James, 57. 
 Symson, Peter, 54. 
 
 Trinity, Minories, pretended exemption, 
 
 3. 
 ■ — Register, 4. 
 
 Twisleton, v. Cockshutt,128. 
 Lord Say and Sele, 131. 
 
 W. 
 Weddings, Parish, 84, 92. 
 
 Private, 75, 77, 90, 91, 92. 
 
 Wigmore, Daniel, 56. 
 
 Wilkinson, Rev. John, of the Savoy, 9, 
 
 140. 
 Wyatt, Walter, 53. 
 
 his curious memoranda, 7. 
 
 Wardens of the Fleet, 34. 
 Wardenship, tenure of, 36. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTCU BY SAUUEL BBNTLKY, 
 
 Dorset Street, Fleet Street. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 REGISTRUM ECCLESIiE PAROCHIALIS. 
 
 The History of Parish Registers in England ; also of the Registers 
 of Scotland, Ireland, the East and West Indies, &c. with Obser- 
 vations on Bishops' Transcripts. 1829, 8vo. lOs. 6d. (Suter, 19, 
 Cheapside.) 
 
 " The contents are not only highly curious, but in many instances amusing. We 
 may commend the book, not only as containing much that is useful in itself, but 
 because it suggests the necessity of a better system of registering, &c." — The Times. 
 
 " The volume abounds with curious matter connected with the subject of Births, 
 Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials generally, and we can recommend it to the pe- 
 rusal of our readers as an interesting and complete History of Parish Registers." — 
 Gents. Mag. 
 
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 the Register of Arrivals, Births, Marriages, and Burials, kept by 
 the English and Scotch Exiles at Geneva in 1355, containing no- 
 tices of W^hittingham, Bodleigh, John Knox, Goodman, Lever, 
 Scory, Lawrence Humphrey, Coverdale, &c. &c.) (Suter, 19, 
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 DEC 19 1958^1 ' —rlibrarvloan 
 
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