A Study Of Clandestine Marriage In London From The 17th To The 18th Century

Clandestine Marriage is a prominent phenomenon in modern British society.Many people married in secret in 17 th and 18 th century England,and the phenomenon was most prominent in London,where it flourished between 1660 and1753.This was inextricably linked to the shortcomings of the Church’s marriage code itself,but also to the social context of England at the time,London’s population growth and economic development.The English Civil War had weakened the authority of the English Church,and London,as the capital of England,attracted a large and mobile foreign population,so that the Church’s norms of marriage were unable to meet the needs of these people,and after the restoration of the Stuart dynasty in 1660,Clandestine Marriages became rapidly popular in London,making it the most typical area of England for Clandestine Marriages in the 17 th and 18 th centuries.The phenomenon of Clandestine Marriages in London is clearly phased:from 1660 to 1695 Clandestine Marriages in London took place mainly in particular churches,with two centres: St James and Holy Trinity.After the Stamp Act and the Marriage Tax Acts came into force in 1695,the liberty of Fleet became the new centre of Clandestine Marriages in London,with a large number of Clandestine Marriages traded in the liberty of Fleet and a number of matrimonial shops with fierce competition.The boom in Clandestine Marriages in London was firstly due to a change in attitudes,with the Reformation impacting on the sacramental status of marriage,the chaos of the Civil War undermining the national tradition of marriage,and the growing importance of privacy,with more and more people treating marriage as a private affair and not wanting to perform it in public.Secondly,there was a practical need for Clandestine Marriages to meet people’s demands for privacy,confidentiality,convenience and freedom to marry.Finally,under the influence of commercialization in London,Clandestine Marriages became a trade and developed into a full-service industry,using advertising,leaflets and hired vendors to attract clients,thus creating a boom in Clandestine Marriages in London.The lack of public witness and the lack of scrutiny of the status of the parties to a marriage led to false marriages,bigamy and fraudulent marriages,which were most evident in the liberty of Fleet of London and gradually caused great discontent among the powers that be,culminating in the enactment of the Hardwick Marriage Act in 1753,which outlawed Clandestine Marriages and punished those who officiated at them.The phenomenon of Clandestine Marriage eventually came to an end.However,people still avoided public marriages by various means,and the phenomenon of Clandestine Marriages did not disappear completely.The concept of freedom of choice of marriage,simplification of religious ceremonies and protection of privacy advocated by the Act is worthy of recognition.