Staffordshire Banns, 1673-1900

Narrative

Discover your ancestors whose banns were read in Staffordshire between 1653 and 1900. The records may reveal when your relative’s banns were announced, when they got married, and where they lived. Please note that this initial release of parish registers is digitised from pre-existing microfilm. There will be a later release of registers digitised from the paper originals in due course.

Transcript

Each record comprises a transcript and black and white image of the original parish register. The amount of information listed varies, but the records usually include a combination of the following information about your ancestor:

First name(s)
Last name
Banns year
Banns date
Marriage year
Marriage date
Denomination
Residence
Parish
Spouse’s first name(s)
Spouse’s last name
Spouse’s residence
County
Country
Images

The image may include additional details, including:

Date of three banns
Officiating minister
Marital status
Spouse’s marital status
The record set comprises 87,988 records from 106 parishes in Staffordshire.

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and Shropshire. (If your ancestors’ records cannot be found in these records, you may be able to search for them in bordering counties.) Stoke-on-Trent is the largest city in Staffordshire, and is administered independently from the rest of the county. Stafford is the county town.

Banns

An ancient legal tradition, banns are an announcement in church of a couple’s intention to marry. The reading of the banns provides an opportunity for anybody to put forward a reason why the marriage may not lawfully take place. Banns must be read in the parish (or parishes) in which the couple lives and in the parish they will marry, on three Sundays in the three months before the wedding, unless the couple have a licence. It is important to note that banns only state an intention to marry; the posting of the banns doesn’t necessarily mean the marriage took place.