Fleet Marriages

There were in the neighborhood of the Fleet prison about sixty marriage houses, some of which were public houses and others not. They were known by having a sign-board, with joined hands, in addition to the public house sign. At the doors of these houses persons called Pliers solicited the passers-by to come in and be married, and in these houses persons who were, or pretended to be, clergymen performed the marriage ceremony and made entries in registers that were kept at the respective houses. There is little doubt that many entries had false dates, that persons who were married personated others, and that women who wished to plead a plea of coverture or hide their shame were married to men who, for a trifling gratuity, married any woman who would pay them, though they had previously married others. Such marriages also took place in the neighborhood of the King's Bench prison, at the Savoy, in the Mint, in the Borough, and at the Mayfair Chapel. It is said in 1 Peake N. P. C. 303, that a marriage in the Fleet was considered at that time good and legal.