Boyd's Marriage Index 1538-1840

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Boyd's Marriage Index is an index to English marriages taken from copies of parish marriage registers, Bishop's Transcripts and marriage licences, for the period 1538 to 1840 (when statutory registration began). It was principally the work of Percival Boyd, MA, FSA, FSG (1866-1955) and his staff.

All English counties are covered, though none completely, and the periods indexed vary according to the copies of records which were readily available. Registers from over 4,300 parishes have been indexed, a total of over 7 million names. Well over a million of these names relate to the London and Middlesex areas.

Index entries contain the last name and first name of the bride and groom, the year, county and parish where the marriage took place, and source of the record (Bishops' Transcripts, marriage licences and banns).

While Boyd's Marriage Index is the largest index of pre-1837 English marriages, it is estimated that only 15% of marriages for the period are included. A "Supplement" has been integrated in the British Origins database with Boyd's index records, allowing a further 96,000 marriages for London and Middlesex to be searched online. Please note that the most of the marriages included in the Supplement are not, to the best of our knowledge, available anywhere else online.

A further 18,700 London marriages for 1754 to 1812 are indexed in the St Andrew Holborn Marriage Index. The structure of these records is significantly different to the structure of the Boyd’s Marriage Index records, which is why they have been kept separate.

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Presented in association with the Society of Genealogists www.sog.org.uk