LIST 29 - MARRIAGES - ST PHILLIPS SYDNEY
During this decade there were 572 marriages performed at St Phillips, the
parish continuing to be the busiest in the colony. On average just over one marriage every week.
The information recorded for each marriage is as follows:
date groom family name Christian name year and ship of arrival civil status at time of marriage age at marriage bride family name Christian name year and ship of arrival civil status at time of marriage age at marriage comments officiating minister reference numberThe marriages are listed in chronological order.
It should be pointed out that in the original register the information
recorded included; date, family name and Christian name of both bride and
groom, the officiating minister. The occupation of the grooms continued
to be recorded in the Comments column throughout the decade. From 1821
additional information provided for each couple in the register includes
whether widow or widower and residence if not from the parish of St Phillips.
Information in the register but not included here includes; names of the
witnesses to the marriage and who gave consent to the marriage (the father
to colonial born brides and the governor for convicts). Interested readers
are urged to consult the originals.
At least in the case of the brides, by noting the information in the "with
the consent of" field, "the governor/master" or "parents/father/guardians"
at least indicates if she was a convict or colonial born.
As explained above the age at marriage is a derived figure.
Unfortunately from 1826 the records copied onto microfilm are only
transcripts of the original register which have not been microfilmed. Like
all transcription processes it leaves itself open to error. It is also possible
that the originals may have held more information.
The Rev William Cowper continued his long chaplaincy during the decade. From
1819 until February 1824 he was assisted by the Rev Richard Hill on a regular
basis with 81 (38%) of the marriages being performed by him until he was
transferred to the new parish of St James. The Rev William Bedford performed one marriage in December 1822. The Rev William Garrard performed one marriage
in May 1825. The Rev Elijah Smith performed one marriage in March 1829. The
Rev John Vincent performed one marriage in February 1830.
The Reference Number would direct the reader to the entry in the original parish
register. In this decade the numbers start from D119 and run to D426 at the
end of 1825. In 1826, like all parishes in the colony, a new printed marriage
register was commenced and Rev Cowper started each new year by re-initializing the reference number but for some reason they never re-commenced with the number
1; 1826 started with E066, 1827 with F049, 1828 with G651, 1829 with H691 and
1830 with J058. The decade ended with J111.
To locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the name
would be made on Lists 27 or 28 using code "SPS" from which the date of marriage
would be retrieved, secondly using the appropriate date, the marriage would
then be located on this list.
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