Do you have ancestors from the English county of Sussex? Explore this collection of parish marriage records. Discover where your ancestors’ marriage took place and the name of their spouse.
Do you have ancestors from the English county of Sussex? Explore this collection of parish marriage records. Discover where your ancestors’ marriage took place and the name of their spouse.
Each record includes a transcript of the original record. The amount of information included in a record will vary, you may be able to find a combination of the following:
First name(s)
Last name
Age
Occupation
Condition
Birth year
Birth place
Marriage year
Marriage date
Marriage Place
Parish
Description
Denomination
Parish of residence
County of residence
Father’s first name(s)
Father’s last name
Father’s occupation
Spouse’s first name(s)
Spouse’s last name
Spouse’s age
Spouse’s occupation
Spouse’s condition
Spouse’s birth year
Spouse’s birth place
Spouse’s parish
Spouse’s residence county
Spouse singed or made mark
Spouse’s father’s first name(s)
Spouse’s father’s last name
Spouse’s father’s occupation
Minister
Witnesses
By license or banns
Repository
Document reference
Entry number
Page number
Notes
The Sussex Marriages include more than 10,000 records from parishes across the county. For a full table of the parishes recorded, view the Sussex marriages parish list available in Useful links and resources. The records date as far back as 1514, an excellent resource for those searching for relatives married before civil registration.
Since censuses and official birth, marriage, and death records only go back to 1837 when civil registration was instated, parish records are vital to researching your family history. The requirement for parish priests to maintain a weekly register of baptisms, marriages, and deaths began in 1538 following King Henry VIII's split from the Roman Catholic Church. A fine was put in place for failure to comply, and from 1733 onwards, entries had to be written in English instead of Latin.
These transcripts have been supplied by several family history societies including the Billinghurst Local History Society, Family Roots (Eastbourne & District Family History Society), and Tunbridge Wells Family History Society.
Begin your search broadly. Start with just a name and a year.
If needed, you can narrow your search results by adding additional search criteria such as a place or, spouse’s name.
Try different name combinations if you are having difficulty locating your ancestor’s entry. Occasionally, a last name was not recorded. Try searching with only a first name and year.