The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and MarriagesAshton, John
History
The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages
Ashton, John
Fleet Prison (London, England); Fleet, River (England)
That this custom of swearing prevailed at Fleet Marriages is borne out
by contemporary evidence. The _Grub Street Journal_ July 20, 1732,
says: "On Saturday last, a Fleet Parson was convicted before Sir
Ric. Brocas of forty three-oaths (on the information of a plyer for
weddings there) for which a warrant was granted to levy £4 6s. on the
goods of the said parson; but, upon application to his Worship, he was
pleased to remit 1s. per oath; upon which the plyer swore he would
swear no more against any man upon the like occasion, finding he got
nothing by it."
And an anonymous Newspaper cutting dated 1734, says, "On Monday last,
a tall Clergyman, who plies about the Fleet Gate for Weddings, was
convicted before Sir Richard Brocas of swearing 42 Oaths, and ordered
to pay £4 2s."
There were regular Chaplains attached to the Fleet Prison to serve the
Chapel there, and, as we have seen, the Warder made every prisoner pay
2d. or 4d. weekly, towards his stipend. Latterly the Chaplaincy was
offered to a Curate of St. Bride's Church--as is now done in the case
of Bridewell.
A complete list of Chaplains cannot be given, because all documents
were destroyed when the Fleet was burnt by the Lord George Gordon
rioters; but Mr. Burn in his "History of Fleet Marriages" (a book to
which I am much indebted, for it has all but exhausted the subject)
gives the names of some, as Haincks in 1698; Robert Elborough, 1702;
John Taylor, 1714; Dr. Franks, 1728; 1797, Weldon Champneys; 1815, John
Manley Wood, and John Jones: and in 1834, the date of the publication
of Mr. Burn's book, the Rev. Richard Edwards, was the Chaplain.
These Clergymen, of course, married couples according to Law, and
probably used the Chapel for that purpose. We know that it was so
used, for the _Original Weekly Journal_ of Sept. 26, 1719, says:
"One Mrs. Anne Leigh, an heiress of £200 per annum and £6000 ready
cash, having been decoyed away from her friends in Buckinghamshire,
and married at the Fleet chapel against her consent; we hear the
Lord Chief Justice Pratt hath issued out his warrant for apprehending
the authors of this contrivance, who have used the young lady so
barbarously, that she now lyes speechless."
[Illustration]
But it is not of the Chaplains I would speak, but of the irregular
Clergy, or Lay men, who performed the Marriages. One thing they
all agreed in, the wearing of the Cassock, Gown, and Bands. They
would never have been believed in had they not. The accompanying
illustration[155] gives an excellent idea of the Fleet Parson, and
it is taken from an Engraving entitled "_The_ FUNERAL _of Poor_ MARY
HACKABOUT, _attended by the Sisterhood of Drury Lane_" and it has a
footnote calling attention to the "wry-necked" parson. "_The famous_
COUPLE BEGGAR _in the Fleet, a_ WRETCH, _who there screens himself from
the Justice due to his_ VILLANIES, _and daily repeats them._"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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