• Background notes
• Dates: old and new calendar
• Notes made by Simpson, who transcribed the registers for Phillimore
• Additional Notes - spelling variants which may differ from the indexes
• Want a copy or want to check for yourself?
  
  

Background notes

Matlock's marriages have been extracted from both Phillimore's Marriage Indexes and the Parish Register.

Phillimore Transcripts are an important source for genealogists as they were extracted directly from parish registers and the registers themselves were one hundred years younger. Presumably they would have been far easier to read then.

Matlock Marriages were extracted for Phillimore by Mr. Llewellyn Lloyd Simpson of Derby from the four volumes of Matlock's parish registers that are listed below and were published with the permission of the then Rector of Matlock, Rev. J.W. Kewley.

• Volume I (1637 - 1732)
  Originally appeared to have been in two parts.
  
  
  • "A True Regester of all the Christin Mariages & Burialls in the pa.... of Matlock since 1637, September 29 .... Henrye Smith, Rector. Robert Oates, Henry Knowles, Churchwardens."
    
    
  • In sections:
    Baptisms 1686 - 1687
    Marriages 1637-1688
    Burials 1637 - 1687
    Baptisms 1689 - 1726
    Marriages 1689 - 1732 (in double columns)
    Burials 1689 - 1732
    Baptisms 1727-1732
    
    
• Volume II. (1732 -1780)
  "The Register Book of the parish of Matlock begun in the year 1732. Thomas Hinkesman, Rector. George Maddock, Curate."
  
  
  • Register begins with Terriers etc., and "The Custom and Manner of tything Wool & Lamb."
    
    
  • In 1754 the marriages were recorded in both Volume II and in the new marriage register, but after then no more marriages were recorded in this volume.
    
    
• Volume III. (1754 - 1781)
  Usual printed Marriage Register, four entry forms per page.
  
  
• Volume IV. (1782 - 1812)
  Similar to Vol. III, but only three entries per page.

Simpson added notes to his transcripts as he went along, mostly about both the state of the register and his difficulty reading it. Some of his additional comments are reproduced below.

The Groom's name was always written in parish registers before that of the Bride, so the Grooms Indexes on this site are closer to the original register entries than the Brides Indexes.

Dates: old and new calendar

The calendar we use today is known as the 'modern' calendar. What is meant by this is that the church year did not always begin on 1st January. Prior to 1752 the church year began on Lady Day, which was 25th March. Parish registers before 1752 ran from the March of one year to the March of the following year. We refer to dates before than as being 'old calendar' dates.

For his transcripts for Phillimore and Co. Simpson followed the church registers and used the 'old calendar' format to record dates before January 1752.

However, because the Brides and Grooms Indexes on this site are presented in alphabetical order, some of the dates have been be adjusted to conform to the modern calendar and avoid confusion.

Genealogists use either a slash in the date (e.g. 1741/2) or just use the modern calendar when recording a pre Jan 1752 date as it avoids unnecessary uncertainty. This historical quirk may explain why a birth, or even a death, may seemingly have taken place before a marriage. Some genealogy programmes do no accept the slash anyway.
There is more onsite information about the slash in the date

Notes made by Simpson

• Below the entry for 14 Jan 1688/9, Simpson notes:
  "A piece of the leaf, 10in. in depth, cut out. At the bottom of the page is the following entry"
  Henry Pearson and Benit Ibard [?] ..... 9 Ap. 1703
  The next entry is:
  Thomas Birds and Mary Low ..... 8 Jul 1689
  
  
• Below the entry for 12 Nov. 1701, Simpson notes:
  "From henceforward the parties are always of Matlock, unless expressly stated to be otherwise"
  
  
• Simpson notes the following marriages were ["inserted"] into the register:
  
  Anthony BOWNE and Grace WRIGHT [inserted] ..... 29 Sep. 1658
  John Wapplington and Rachel Tellers [inserted] ..... 1 Jan. 1725 [i.e.1725/6]
  Job WRAG and Alice YATES [inserted] ..... 6 July 1727
  Edward LEEDS and Jane PIERSON [inserted] ..... 6 Aug. 1727
  James ARME and Frances PIDCOCK [inserted] ..... 10 Oct. 1728
  
  

Additional Notes in Phillimore's Indexes

Spelling variants, which may differ from the onsite indexes

Want a copy or want to check for yourself?

Contact details for Staffordshire RO, who hold the BT's and many copies of Marriage Licences
Contact details for Derbyshire County Record Office in Matlock where the Parish Registers are held