Staffordshire Banns

Transcript

Each record comprises a transcript and black and white image of the original parish register. The amount of information listed varies, but the records usually include a combination of the following information about your ancestor:

• First name(s)

• Last name

• Banns year

• Banns date

• Marriage year

• Marriage date

• Denomination

• Residence

• Parish

• Spouse’s first name(s)

• Spouse’s last name

• Spouse’s residence

• County

• Country

Images

The image may include additional details, including:

• Date of three banns

• Officiating minister

• Marital status

• Spouse’s marital status

The record set comprises 273,847 records from 208 parishes in Staffordshire.

These records date from 1653 to 1900.

Note: some of the images may show a black mark followed by the words ‘his mark’ or ‘her mark’ in the records of those who were unable to write.

Colour digital images created from paper originals will be added in due course, expanding the collection considerably so if you can't find your ancestor now there's a good chance they will be here soon.

Staffordshire Parish Register Collection

These records belong to the Staffordshire collection, a unique set of records spanning baptisms, banns, marriages and burials, which provide details of the history of Staffordshire and its people.

Since its foundation, the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service has been responsible for the records of Staffordshire parishes. The very first deposit of records obtained by Staffordshire Record Office in 1947 was from the parish of Hamstall Ridware. Registers included in this collection are all held by the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service. Registers for those few Staffordshire parishes deposited with other archive services are not included in this collection.

The parish registers in this collection document the key events in the lives of the people of Staffordshire, including the city of Stoke-on-Trent and those parts of the historic county currently within the West Midlands conurbation, between 1538 and 1900.

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and Shropshire. (If your ancestors’ records cannot be found in these records, you may be able to search for them in bordering counties.)

Stoke-on-Trent is the largest city in Staffordshire, and is administered independently from the rest of the county. Stafford is the county town.

Banns

An ancient legal tradition, banns are an announcement in church of a couple’s intention to marry. The reading of the banns provides an opportunity for anybody to put forward a reason why the marriage may not lawfully take place. Banns must be read in the parish (or parishes) in which the couple lives and in the parish they will marry, on three Sundays in the three months before the wedding, unless the couple have a licence. It is important to note that banns only state an intention to marry; the posting of the banns doesn’t necessarily mean the marriage took place.

Parish registers

Parish registers are handwritten volumes in which details of baptisms, banns, marriages and burials are recorded. In 1538, following the Church of England’s split with Rome, it was decreed that each parish priest must keep such a register. Earlier records frequently contained baptisms, marriages and burials in one book, called a general register. In 1754, separate marriage and banns registers were introduced in a standard printed portrait format, which remained in use until 1837, when civil registration began. A printed landscape formatted marriage register was introduced, which is still in use today.