Transcript of the registers of St. George's Chapel, Mayfair, 1727-1754, [1800s].

1 v. (622 p.) ; 34 cm.

English

Purchased from Last, August 1939.

This material is available for research.

In the eighteenth century, St. George's Chapel performed clandestine marriage ceremonies, without requiring a licence or calling of banns. The Rev. Alexander Keith was appointed to officiate there and began to advertise his services in newspapers. James, Duke of Hamilton was married there to Miss Elizabeth Gunning on February 14, 1752. The rector of nearby St George, Hanover Square, however, brought a suit against Keith in the Doctors Commons, and as a result, Keith was excommunicated in 1742 and put into the Fleet Prison in 1743, where he eventually died in 1758. The clandestine marriages continued, however, performed by his assistants in a nearby private dwelling they called "New Chapel." Marriages at the chapel came to an end by the passing of Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act on March 25, 1754.

Manuscript, in a single hand, of a transcript of the records , kept by Rev. Alexander Keith, of baptisms and marriages performed at St. George's Chapel, Mayfair. The volume begins with a list of baptisms from 1741-1745, arranged by date. The entries include the name of the child, those of its parents, and its date of birth. Beginning in 1744, the register primarily records adult baptisms and those of "blacks," such as "Philip Deal, about 22 years of age, born in Golden Coast in Guinea, a Black man belonging to Govr Ogle." This section is followed by a register of marriages between 1738-1754, and then by "Dr. Keith's Register Book of Marriages, No. 3, May Fair," recording marriages between 1728-1731. These entries include information about the parties' previous marital statuses as well as their occupations. The final section in the manuscript is titled "Marriages perform'd by Mr. Symson at May Fair in 1748."

July 16, 2008

Transcript of the registers of St. George's Chapel, 1728-1754. The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.

Transcript of the registers of St. George's Chapel, 1728-1754. The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.