Would you get married during Christmas week ? It would be difficult to get relatives to travel to the wedding, especially if they had to travel long distances, and you would probably get a cheaper wedding present than at other times of the year given all the other presents which had to be bought. I knew I had come across marriages in me and my wife's trees around this period which got me wondering how common it used to be and why.
25th December : Sarah Shire 1818, Moses Shaw 1844, Mary Wareham 1857 and William Musgrove 1859
26th December : Caroline Musgrove 1908 (Week 39)
27th December : William Coveney 1814
29th December : Shire Page 1812
30th December : Harriet Vincent 1925
31st December : William Anderson & Annie Spence 1925
It seems that it was not uncommon to be married on either Christmas Day or Boxing Day in the 19th and the early part of the 20th century because they were days when working people were not expected to work.
In the 1800s most people worked six days a week and didn't get paid when they didn't work which, of course, most could ill afford. It was only with the rise of the labour unions in the twentieth century that working conditions and employee rights started to improve.
The couple of days labourers and servants had off work at Christmas were obviously ideal for getting married as families and friends of the couple also didn't have to work and could also attend the wedding. If you're going to have a party, why not a double celebration ?
It seems some churches brought their prices down for the Christmas period and some would even marry you for free !
As you can see from the article (opposite) it was not uncommon for churches to hold group weddings where more than one couple were married simultaneously.
The couple of days labourers and servants had off work at Christmas were obviously ideal for getting married as families and friends of the couple also didn't have to work and could also attend the wedding. If you're going to have a party, why not a double celebration ?
It seems some churches brought their prices down for the Christmas period and some would even marry you for free !
As you can see from the article (opposite) it was not uncommon for churches to hold group weddings where more than one couple were married simultaneously.
I have had a look back in The British Newspaper Archives and found a number of articles which show that not only were Christmas weddings popular, they did in fact reach epidemic proportions.
The practice of having 'batch' marriages where more than one couple married at the same time wasn't without its problems.
“I shall be marrying 16 couples at my church”, said the Rev. Martin Davidson, vicar of Holy Trinity, Canning Town in 1928. He could not account for so many marriages, but said it might be that some couples liked to combine the marriage and Christmas festivities.
“They are generally poor people who get married on Christmas Day," said Mr. Davidson. "On Christmas Day I shall marry two couples at a time, as I have done in previous years."
It was not just Churches which were busy marrying couples in 1928. "On Saturday a record was established at the register office of the Edmonton Board of Guardians. Three officials were busy marrying people, 48 ceremonies being performed between 9.00 in the morning and 2.30 in the afternoon. The total number of weddings over the holidays at the office is estimated at 70."
Having established that it used to be common for weddings to take place over Christmas, it got me wondering when this practice died out. It would be interesting to know if there are any records which show how the numbers marrying on Christmas Day declined as we moved towards the 21st century and whether any other date has become popular in more modern times given that it must now be rare for any weddings to take place at Christmas time.
I wrote to the Archivist at the Lambeth Palace Library who would be the person who knew, if anyone did. They hold the records of the Church of England back to 1704. She kindly responded that they only hold these sort of records for a relatively small diocese and the records they hold are marriage allegations rather than actual marriages. She went on, "We do not hold statistics for the number of marriage allegations relating to marriages on particular dates. Since allegations were simply a document to obtain a marriage license, they do not give an exact date for the marriage itself. Therefore, it would only be possible to gain an approximation of the rise and decline in Christmas and Boxing Day marriages using marriage allegations, especially from the limited geographical area that our records relate to."
She said she had "also tried searching our printed books catalogue for any studies into marriage that might discuss this subject, but I am afraid we hold few books on marriage customs and I have not found any references to Christmas and Boxing Day marriages. This is a very interesting subject and I wish you the best of luck with your research."
Amazingly it seems there are no statistics available, even now, on what dates are most popular for conducting weddings or even which days are chosen to carry out the nuptials. Therefore it can only be conjecture that the practice of getting married at Christmas lost its appeal as workers rights became greater. When I started working in the 1970's I got the statutory bank holidays off work but anything extra had to come out of my 14 days holiday entitlement. Who would have thought that, 40 odd years on, quite a large number of individuals would now expect to have 10 days off work at Christmas as if it were a right ?
She said she had "also tried searching our printed books catalogue for any studies into marriage that might discuss this subject, but I am afraid we hold few books on marriage customs and I have not found any references to Christmas and Boxing Day marriages. This is a very interesting subject and I wish you the best of luck with your research."
Amazingly it seems there are no statistics available, even now, on what dates are most popular for conducting weddings or even which days are chosen to carry out the nuptials. Therefore it can only be conjecture that the practice of getting married at Christmas lost its appeal as workers rights became greater. When I started working in the 1970's I got the statutory bank holidays off work but anything extra had to come out of my 14 days holiday entitlement. Who would have thought that, 40 odd years on, quite a large number of individuals would now expect to have 10 days off work at Christmas as if it were a right ?
There is no reason why you still couldn't get married on Christmas Day ........ but finding a vicar would be difficult, if not impossible !