[Bell Historians] Peculiars

[John Camp]

--- In bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com, Andrew WR Wilby <andrew at ...> wrote:

> Am i right in thinking a Special License does does not involve Banns
being read and since there's generally nobody on the island to read
them then the special license route is used?

A special licence does not involve the reading of banns.  Banns can be
called only when at least one of the parties to the marriage is
resident within the parish or, in this case, extra=parochial area.  So
presumably there aren't too many people eligible.

The great advantage, from the point of view of the officiant, is that
the church will have a marriage register of its own.  Otherwise, when
there is a wedding, even by special licence, the register of the
nearest parish church would have to be fetched and actually be on the
premises at the time of the wedding.

John Camp