Vicar-General Marriage Licence Index Statistics
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Statistics for published volumes

Start of index volume period	End of index volume period	Number of index entries	Number of different surnames
1694	1725	102,504	26,083
1726	1750	54,046	16,143
1751	1776	45,722	14,466
1776	1800	28,866	10,466
1801	1825	50,260	14,578
1826	1850	75,436	17,903

For the complete index there are:

52,872 different surnames

356,834 index entries

156 years four months included from July 1694 to October 1850

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The number of licences applied for during the period of this index varied very greatly from year to year from a minimum in the late 1790's of under 500 per year to over 2000 per annum in the mid 19th century. I do not know the reasons for the fluctuations although I speculate that the steady rise during the 19th century was a combination of population growth, greater social mobility and fashion. The temporary reversal of the downward trend resulting in a peak for a decade or so after 1752 was almost certainly influenced by Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act. The latter was introduced because of increasingly lax practices by clergy in calling banns or granting licences. These trends are shown on the following graph in blue with the licences granted by the Master of Faculties of the Archbishop of Canterbury in red.

Updated by David Squire 15 November 2000
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