The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-05-11
FLEET WEDDINGS.
The Time When q Marriage Could Take
Place at Q Moments Notice.

The Time When q Marriage Could Take
Place at . Moments Notice.
Clcrgymen imprisoned for debt were
the functionaries They had their
regular touts called "plyers" or bark
ers'' who beset likely looking passers-by
to know il they wanted to be married.
There was a Scotch minister named
George Keith, who set up marriage
Office in the Fleet, and had such Gus
tom in this way that he united in I'M
holy matrimony more than any ten
churches in the neighborhood. The
taverns in the precincts fitted up
room as a chapel and kept a clerical
gentleman on the establishment at
weekly salary of twenty-five shillings
Signboards were hung out of the win
dows bearing the inscription: "Wed-
dings performed cheap here" The
most Ubiquitous deeds were perpetrated
under the shadow of these Fleet we'd
dings The INSCRIPTIONS parsons were
ready for proper bride to antedate
weddings, to give fictitious certificates
and to marry persons who furnished no
more than the initial of their names.
A widow in debt could easily cheat her
creditors by pretending to have been
married. There was no need to give
herself the trouble of coming provided
with bridegroom. A man could in
stantly be found on the spot to act in
that capacity for a few shillings.
These sham husbands were married
over and over again under different
names with full knowledge of the cler-
ical practitioners Young and uusus-
pecting girls were allured into these
unions with IMMUNITY to the libertines
who desired temporarily to possess
them. A man wishing to legitimize
his natural children could obtain from
. Fleet parson a marriage certificate OF
any required date. A contemporary
account states that all manner OF peo-
pie presented themselves for marriage
at these ungodly dens In the Fleet tav-
ems. Runaway sons and daughters
of peers, Irish adventures with foolish
rich widows, soldiers and servant girls.
boys in their teens and old women OF
seventy, young heiresses conveyed
thither by force. common laborers and
female paupers dragged by parish Of
HCtES w Vic prOlduO dicdi. Noy'
says the historians of the epoch, 'it
sometimes happened that the contract
ing parties would send direct from
houses of vile repute for Fleet par
son, who could readily be found to at
tend even in such places and under
such circumstances and there unite the
couple in matrimony."
There were also In that day parish
weddings" Church wardens and over
seers of the time would get up these
unions in order to throw their paupers
on neighboring parishes The public
laxity bred by such practices caused
other matrimonial Adjustments of
the kind to be set up at the chapel In
Mayfair, the Mint in the Borough. the
Savoy, and other places about London.
Matters were brought to head by the
great scandal about the marriage at the
Fleet of Hon. Henry Fox with Georgi-
ana Caroline. eldest daughter of the
duke of Richmond. Then at last, not
without much opposition. n marriage
bill was passed. enacting that any per-
son solemnizing matrimony elsewhere
than in a church or public chapel with
out banns or license should, on con-
viction, be adjudged guilty of felony
and be transported fourteen years, and
that all such marriages should be void.
This act took effect from the 25th of
March, 1884. Previously TO that time
matters had gone to such n length that
sometimes, when the ships of war came
in conveying merchantmen. there would
be two or three hundred marriages in
a weeks time in the Fleet among the
sailors. The Infamous Keith, whose
occupation was gone by the passing OF
the marriage act, although he united
sixty-one couples the day before
it came in force, is said to have taken
to another but similar profession. He
bought two or three acres of ground,
had it consecrated by mock rites and
advertised cheap burials, with full and
proper service in order. as he said, to
undersell the bishops. Two clergy
men, named Grierson and Wilkinson,
OF the Savoy, were convicted of break
ing the law, and shipped of as convicts
to the colonies
In the present day these things appear
lncOncclNdDit Duj III W
believe that by making the marriage
ceremony u civil contract which can be
attested by registrar a certain dimin-
ution of sancitv in the popular esti-
nation has befallen. 1t is, perhaps,
seldom the case that any bridegroom,
suddenly inspired with nuptial yearn-
ings, exclaims. like Mr.. Wemmick in
Dickens Great Expectations: "Hullo,
here's a church! Let's go and get
married." Nor does it happen any
longer that stout old gentlemen like
Mr. Weller. the elder, roaming near
the precincts of Doctors Commons, are
bounced upon by fat porters in white
aprons, who ask: do you want a
license, sir?" and. going into the fatal
office, have difficulty in thinking of the
name of some eligible bride. 1t is pain
fully evident, however, that there are
many who no longer cherish the old re-
gard for the high sanctity Of marriage
or look upon it as possessing the least
fragment of sacrament.-London Tele-
graph.
Black Velvet Coats.
Young women of slight figure have a
fancy this winter for black velvet coats
and two or three of them are met in a
block on the Avenue on bright sunny