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What is Boyd's Marriage Index?
Boyd's Marriage Index is an index to English marriages taken from copies of parish marriage registers, Bishop's Transcripts and marriage licences, for the period 1538 to 1840 (when statutory registration began). It was principally the work of Percival Boyd, MA, FSA, FSG (1866-1955) and his staff. It was made at his expense between 1925 and 1955, and has since been expanded. All English counties are covered, none completely (some, eg. Cambridge, are almost complete), and the periods indexed vary according to the copies of records which were readily available. Registers from over 4,300 parishes have been indexed, a total of over 7 million names. The index is particularly important to anyone researching East Anglian ancestry for not only is the coverage almost complete (over 95% of all the ancient parishes are included), but little of this data is available anywhere else (for example, the International Genealogical Index has very limited coverage of this area). See parish details for each county The Index Series The Index is divided into the following three series.
Source of records While most records have been captured from the Parish Registers, many have been captured from Bishops' Transcripts (BTs), and both sources have been used for some. Bishops' Transcripts From 1598, English parishes had to send their bishop an annual list of baptisms, marriages and burials. Surviving Bishops' Transcripts are usually held at the relevant County Record Office. Where the seat of the bishop is in a different county to the parish, the transcripts could be in either county. Marriage Licences For Suffolk there are also 12,000 marriage licence entries (24,000 people) for the Archdeaconries of Suffolk (9,758) and Sudbury (2,243). There are also a few records of Banns. Copies of the typescript index Copies of the original typescript index are with the Society of Genealogists, the College of Arms, the Genealogical Society of Utah and some county records offices and libraries have copies of segments of the Index. At present the Society of Genealogists' copy of the Index consists of 534 volumes containing about 6 to 7 million names. This is thought to cover 12-15% of marriages in England between 1538 and 1840. The index records All index entries contain:
1607; COOK; MARY; PARMBY; NIC; CAMBRIDGE ST ANDREW GREAT; CAMBRIDGESHIRE There are some idiosyncrasies in the way last names are spelled and first names abbreviated. Details are provided in the Help on Searching - Boyd's Marriage Index which we strongly recommend you read before searching. Supplement to Boyd's Marriage Index While Boyd's Marriage Index is the largest index of pre-1837 English marriages, it is estimated that only 15% of marriages for the period are included. Cliff Webb has undertaken to "fill in the gaps" for the City of London and Middlesex, to the extent that is possible from surviving records. This "Supplement" is integrated in the British Origins database with Boyd's index records, so that Boyd's Marriage Index and the Supplement may be searched simultaneously. This is an on-going project. In the first batch of new records for London and Middlesex nearly 96,000 marriages have been indexed (nearly 200,000 names); over 50,000 City of London marriages and 46,000 for Middlesex. These include 3,100 Jewish marriages from Bevis Marks and the Great Synagogues, 3,160 Roman Catholic marriages, and 862 Huguenot marriages. Please note that the most of the marriages included in the Supplement (apart from those of the Great Synagogue) are not, to the best of our knowledge, available anywhere else online. Click here to view number of marriages, periods and parishes/churches in the Supplement. The source records The original registers provide much more information than the index. eg. An index record:
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the parish register entry:
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| The full entry gives connection to another county, ages of bride and groom, name and widowhood of groom's mother, and the fact that both bride's parents were alive.
Microfilm copies of many registers were made by the LDS, and can be ordered from LDS Family History Centres. County Sources at the Society of Genealogists Library is a reference for personal visitors to the library. Society staff can make limited searches in these volumes, and some are available for loan. See www.sog.org.uk/prc/intro.shtml for more details. Most parish registers in England are kept at County Record Offices. Click here for County Record Office details Relevant publications A List of Parishes in Boyd's Marriage Index, Society of Genealogists, 1994 Lists parishes and years included in Boyd's Marriage Index and is available from the Society of Genealogists bookshop. |
| See also: | Help on Searching - Boyd's Marriage Index |
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