REGISTRY OFFICE MARRIAGES

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27445, 3 September 1954, Page 14

REGISTRY OFFICE MARRIAGES

Marked Increase In Britain BIG CHANGE IN LAST 20 YEARS (From the London Correspondent of “The Press") LONDON, August 23. In England and Wales, the path to the altar is more frequently being altered to the path to the registry office. Latest figures issued by the Registrar General for marriages during 1952 show that. weddings in church-are losing popularity among young couples. Of the 349,308 marriages celebrated during the year in England and Wales, more than 105,700 took place in registry offices. In an analysis showing the venue of marriages, out of every 1000 marriages 306 took place in registry offices, 496 in churches and chapels of the Church of England and the Church eg Wales, 94 in Roman Catholic churcnes and 104 in buildings of other denominations.

In 1934, the last year in which marriages were analysed in this way, the corresponding figures were 284 in registry offices, 535 in established churches, 65 in Roman Catholic churches and 115 in other denominations.

The proportion of registry office marriages has increased yearly ever since first records were kept in 1844. Then only 26 couples in every 1000 ceremonies braved civil marriages. By the turn of the century,, the figure was 150 in every 1000 and since then the proportion of civil marriages has more than doubled.

Marriages in Roman Catholic churches have also shown a steady increase from 17 per 1000 in 1844 to 94 in 1952. Figures in the report also show that the most popular age of marriage for men in Britain is 23 and for women 21. The most popular month is March (69,832 marriages) and the least popular January (13,668 marriages). The number of divorces filed In 1952 fell from the record figure of 38,382 in the previous year to 34,567. The most frequent causes set down in petitions were desertion (15,870 cases) and adultery (13,010 cases).