Roy Stockdill
2005-02-14 20:28:54 UTC
Here's a quick query for my Scottish friends, following on again from
my recent visit to the GROS in Edinburgh.
I have a marriage in 1933 and, whilst all the others took place
either in a Catholic Church or Church of Scotland, etc, this was some
kind of civil ceremony at an address which I take to have been a
register office or similar.
The marriage was on 4 November 1933 and both parties were widowed, so
had been previously married. The bridegroom was aged 30 and the bride
34. The certificate states that the marriage took place at 320,
London Road, Glasgow "By Declaration in the presence of [two
witnesses named]". The penultimate column states that the marriage
was by "Warrant of Sheriff Substitute of Lanarkshire, dated 4th
November 1933".
The official heading above the column states: "If a Regular Marriage,
signature and designation of Officiating Minister and signatures and
addresses of witnesses; If an Irregular Marriage, Date of Decree of
Declarator, or of sheriff's Warrant". I take it therefore that this
was an "Irregular" marriage.
Since the Scottish system is different, I'd be interested in a little
background as to what precisely a Sheriff Substitute is and was this
the equivalent of an English register office marriage or something
different again? Why is it called "Irregular"? I gather from a spot
of Googling that a Sheriff Substitute is a magistrate of sorts,
rather than a registrar of births, marriages & deaths.
Roy Stockdill
Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- www.one-name.org
Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:- www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html
"We are all omnibuses in which our ancestors ride, and every now and then
one of them sticks his head out and embarrasses us."
Oliver Wendell Holmes
my recent visit to the GROS in Edinburgh.
I have a marriage in 1933 and, whilst all the others took place
either in a Catholic Church or Church of Scotland, etc, this was some
kind of civil ceremony at an address which I take to have been a
register office or similar.
The marriage was on 4 November 1933 and both parties were widowed, so
had been previously married. The bridegroom was aged 30 and the bride
34. The certificate states that the marriage took place at 320,
London Road, Glasgow "By Declaration in the presence of [two
witnesses named]". The penultimate column states that the marriage
was by "Warrant of Sheriff Substitute of Lanarkshire, dated 4th
November 1933".
The official heading above the column states: "If a Regular Marriage,
signature and designation of Officiating Minister and signatures and
addresses of witnesses; If an Irregular Marriage, Date of Decree of
Declarator, or of sheriff's Warrant". I take it therefore that this
was an "Irregular" marriage.
Since the Scottish system is different, I'd be interested in a little
background as to what precisely a Sheriff Substitute is and was this
the equivalent of an English register office marriage or something
different again? Why is it called "Irregular"? I gather from a spot
of Googling that a Sheriff Substitute is a magistrate of sorts,
rather than a registrar of births, marriages & deaths.
Roy Stockdill
Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- www.one-name.org
Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:- www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html
"We are all omnibuses in which our ancestors ride, and every now and then
one of them sticks his head out and embarrasses us."
Oliver Wendell Holmes