Hampshire Marriage Index 1660 – 1753

Background Historical Information

This index covers the time following the ‘Commonwealth Period’, which included Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate and lasted from 1649 until Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660. It was a time of confusion in terms of where marriages took place and where they were registered, so records are hit and miss.

By 1711 an Act was passed requiring that proper register books be used, with ruled and numbered pages. By 1733 another law was passed forbidding the use of Latin in parish registers.