SEARCH FORM (1837-1901)

Welcome to the Liverpool Roman Catholic Marriages website which provides a complete index to all the 55,000+ marriages from all the Roman Catholic Churches in central Liverpool and the vast majority of those in the suburbs, formerly in West Derby, Toxteth Park, Ormskirk and Prescot registration districts for the years 1837 to 1901. Click here for coverage details.

It is hoped this site will compliment the lancashirebmd website which covers a similar geographical area but which only gives details of where a marriage took place for Church of England Churches. Marriages which took place in Christian Churches of other denominations (as well as at the Register Offices) are described as 'Liverpool, Register Office or Registrar Attended' or 'West Derby, Register Office or Registrar Attended'. By 1901 these categories included over forty Roman Catholic churches.

Just like the lancashirebmd website this index will give you the year and the name of the church where a couple married. The index is provided free of charge and you can search it as often as you need to. Once you have the information from the index it is then up to you how you wish to obtain further details:

  1. You can order a civil registration certificate from one of the usual places.

  2. All of the original marriage registers included in this index can be viewed at libraries and record offices in the Liverpool area so you can make a personal visit or write to any of them. Click here for further details of where the records of each particular church are located. 

  3. If you wish to obtain the complete details of any marriage directly from this website they will cost £3.00 (GBP) per marriage or £10.00 (GBP) for four marriages. But please don't feel that using the index puts you under any obligation to make a purchase.

If you do wish to obtain details via this site then please submit your request using the REQUEST FORM. The cost will be £3.00 (GBP) per marriage or £10.00 (GBP) for four marriages. You will be sent an email containing payment options (paypal or personal cheque). If you then decide to proceed with the request - and once the payment has been processed - you will receive the full marriage details within 24 hours (or 48 hours at weekends).

These 'details' are not identical to those on a civil marriage certificate. They rarely include details of ages or occupations. 99% of RC marriage registers will give the names and address of the bride and groom and the names of their fathers, as well as the names and addresses of the witnesses to the marriage. If you are unlucky enough to request a marriage that does not contain this basic information you will not be charged.

A transcription of a standard RC marriage entry can be seen here. This is the amount of information most people will receive.

However, up to 20% of the RC marriage marriages records include some additional information. Some of the entries also include the place of origin of the bride or groom instead of (or as well as) their current address and/or the names of both the father and the mother of the bride or groom. Sometimes even the maiden names of the mothers are given. The name of the former husband of a widow may also be included. There is no guarantee you will receive additional information as the records vary from church to church and even depending on which priest at the church officiated at the marriage.
Year(s): from*   to*
Forename:
Surname:
Spouse Forename:
Spouse Surname:
* required fields                 

How to use the search form
If you enter a name or a combination of names that cannot be found then you will simply be given a message telling you there are no matches. This will also be the case if, for example, you enter a year (number) in one of the 'name' boxes or if you enter a name (text) in the year box. 
The only symbols permitted is the ' in names such as O'Connor. Thomas P. should be entered as Thomas or Thomas P and a double barrelled name such as Smith-Jones should be entered as Smith Jones.
As yet it is not possible to search by soundex but you can use as many wildcard (%) symbols as you want in the search term, for example Ca%l%n should find all variations on the name Callaghan as well as several other unrelated names.
You can also search any box for names beginning with a partial phrase. ie searching in the surname box for the letters McC will find all names starting with these letters. The forename boxes are slightly different. You can use these to search for a partial phrase that occurs anywhere in the forename. ie searching for Ann will find all entries containing the phrase Ann such as Annie, Mary Ann, Ann Jane, Ann J or even Susannah.  

About the results of your search
Most of the original marriages registers use Latin for forenames (but not for surnames!). For ease of use I have added an extra column to the database with the English version of the Latin forename. Thus, if you search for William at least half a dozen different Latin spellings, such as Gulielmum, Gullelmum, Guilielmum, Gul, Willelmum, Gulielmus, will be searched for. Both the English translation and the original Latin will be shown in the search results.
However, it is not always obvious what the correct English translation should be. The names Amy, Emily and Amelia would be the same in Latin. Similarly Mary, Maria and Marie would all be translated to Mariam and Jane, Joan and Joannah would all be given in the original as Joannam. To avoid mistakes that are inevitable when retranslating a translation I have used the most common variation of the name whenever possible.

Search by Father's Name
In the near future you will also be able to search all of the database by the name of the father of either the bride or groom thus making it easier to find family groups. Until this process is fully automated any such requests - or any other questions at all - can be sent by email. A request for further information will put you under no obligation to make a purchase. 
BROWSE INDEX BY YEAR
1901 1900 1899 1898 1897 1896 1895 1894 1893 1892 1891 1890 1889
1888 1887 1886 1885 1884 1883 1882 1881 1880 1879 1878 1877 1876
1875 1874 1873 1872 1871 1870 1869 1868 1867 1866 1865 1864 1863
1862 1861 1860 1859 1858 1857 1856 1855 1854 1853 1852 1851 1850
1849 1848 1847 1846 1845 1844 1843 1842 1841 1840 1839 1838 1837

also available  for the years 1886-1900
 

LIVERPOOL RC MARRIAGES © 2009