Marriage bonds

Search the pre-1837 index from this form. There is no index available for post-1837, but you can request a box for the required year on the Catalogue.

What were marriage bonds?

The marriage bonds enabled a marriage licence to be issued without having to proclaim banns in church on three successive Sundays prior to the marriage. The bonds give interesting details about the two parties including names, dates, location, age and the groom's profession. Only the marriage bonds and affidavits to 1837 have been indexed, but later records are available well in to the 20th century.

Tips for searching

• If you know the full name you're looking for, place the name in the search box with '' " around it. The results will only show records containing the full name. If you search for a full name without '' " it will show all results containing either name eg if you search for Mary Jones it will show every Mary, every Jones and every Mary Jones.
• If you know the name of both parties use AND between the names, in order to see only the results including both names eg a search for: "Mary Jones" AND "John Jones" will only show results which include both Mary Jones and John Jones.
• If you know the date of the bond, you can refine your results on the Catalogue by using the 'Creation Date' filter in the right hand side column