What was the Hardwicke Marriage Act, 1753?
It was designed to prevent clandestine marriages. From then on marriages had to take place in the parish church and banns were to be published or a marriage licence obtained. A register of banns had then to be kept. Pre-Hardwicke the marriages were entered into registers on blank sheets of paper but post-Hardwicke printed forms were supposed to be used and status, groom’s occupation, consent of parents if one of the couple was a minor, signatures (or marks) of the couple and witnesses were written down.
