A Kent archive research Blog: November 2020

Monday 2 November 2020

Halstead Saint Margaret Marriage Register 1839-1920

The Marriages of Halstead are a curiousity because an Ecclesiastical error in the 1880's meant that the use of a chapel licensed for burials was developed into the the parish church and the Ancient parish church was demolished in 1880/1881. Subsequent marriages were taking place in a building which had no rights for Church marriage due to a failure to transfer that right from the Ancient Parish Church. 119 marriages which took place until 1919 were technically invalid rendering many of the population of Halstead illegitimate. This was resolved by a 1920 Act of Parliament which validated these marriages and licensed the church for marriages.

The rural parish of Halstead was one of farmers fruitgrowers and shepherds. It is 1.4 miles from the railway station at neighbouring Knockholt which was constructed and opened in 1876 as "Halstead for Knockholt" station on the 1868 South Eastern Railway line from Orpington to Sevenoaks and Tonbridge. The marriage register includes many entries for railway workers resident in Halstead from Station staff to platelayers and Engine Drivers. One railway family connected to Halstead through a marriage includes an interesting occupation here.

The register contains a printed invitation to all men of the village to assemble as part of the preliminary mobilisation for the First World War. It has been used absently mindedly to make a note on the reverse. The subsequent entries reflect not only service in the Army and Navy but Halstead women serving in the Territorial Force Nursing Service. Marriage of Canadians from The Ontario Canadian Hospital Orpington are also noteworthy.

My transcript of this marriage register has been completed and is being prepared for publication at Kent Online Parish Clerks in due course.

Occupation Signal Carpenter

Railway families were the life work of the late Bob Rubie A.G.R.A. A.G.P. who assisted many to trace their railway family history. As a colleague of Bob's for several years his enthusiasm for the South East of England has often influenced me as I transcribe records for publication online at Kent Online Parish Clerks. I think Bob taught me through his appreciation of some of the humblest railway occupations to think about the 24 hour nature of work on early railways. Bob had worked as a signalman at most signal boxes between Hither Green and Orpngton. He was on duty at Hither Green signal box at the time of the Hither Green rail crash. It is fitting that he is buried at Hither Green Cemetery alongside the railway. As I recall Bob had a fascination with early railway signalling and the construction of the wooden railway signal box and miles of wiring connecting it to signal posts.

On 20 September 1896 Frank Roots marries at Halstead Saint Margaret Kent,his occupation is given as Stoker.His father Thomas Roots occupation is given as Signal Carpenter. The work of creating installing and fitting signals is a seldom remembered part of railway construction and maintenance. I imagine that the miles of metal cabling involved in signalling would fall to a Railway Signal Fitter.

Thomas Root was born at Tunbridge Kent;his son Frank was born at Capel Kent and his son James elsewhere. The family reside in Deptford in both the 1881 and 1891 census but had previously moved about as reflected by the birthplace of the Root children. It seems likely that Thomas Root had been in railway employment throughout his working life as he is described as a Railway Signal Fitter in the 1881 census and a Signal Carpenter in 1896.

His son's birth at Capel (near Father Frank's birthplace of Tunbridge Wells) was at a period when the family did not remain as there is no baptism recorded until Frank is found in the Baptismal Register at All Saints Deptford on 8 August 1883 over a decade after his birth in early 1872. This suggests that Frank Roots work involved signalling work across the railway.

In the 1891 census whilst living with his four siblings in Deptford Frank aged 18 is employed as an Engine Cleaner and appears to have followed his father in Railway employment;in 1896 his occupation as Stoker might also be rail employment. His Elder brother James aged 21 in 1891 is described as Watchmaker and Jeweller.

The marriage at Halstead is one of over a hundred marriages which were not legalised until a 1920 Act of Parliament regularised the Eclesiastical error made when the Saint Margaret's Church was opened in it's present building in 1881. It had previously been a chapel and burial ground licensed for burials. The failure to licence the Church for marriages resulted in many of Halstead's children being technically illegitimate. Marriages between 1881 and 1920 were affected. My transcript of the Saint Margaret Halstead Marriage Register 1839-1920 has been completed and is being prepared for publication in due course.