In 1753 the United Kingdom Parliament passed an Act for the better preventing of Clandestine Marriages (26 Geo.2 c.33). Also known as Lord Hardwicke's Act, it came into force in 1754 and, with certain exceptions for marriages by common licence or special licence, made void any marriage except after banns, and required parental consent to the marriage of minors. It applied only to England and Wales, and although it stopped the scandal of "Fleet marriages", it did not succeed, as intended, in entirely preventing young heirs and heiresses eloping with unsuitable partners, since clandestine marriages could still be contracted in Scotland, without even the need for a clergyman. For this reason, from 1754 onwards elopements to villages over the Scottish border were popular, though less so after Scots law was changed in 1856 to require 21 days' residence.
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Lord Hardwicke's Act did not of course extend to the Isle of Man. Clergymen imprisoned for debt in the Fleet prison had been able to make a living, and even pay off their debts, by officiating at irregular marriages. The Isle of Man already offered debtors a haven from their creditors in England, and in 1754 fugitive clergy caused a marriage trade to spring up in the Island, with transport from England provided by smugglers (the smuggling trade being then at its height). Bishop Hildesley, who took office in 1755, sought to stamp out such irregular marriages, but these visitors were evidently not so amenable to discipline as the incumbent clergy.
In 1757, at Bishop Hildesley's instance, Tynwald passed an Act to prevent Clandestine Marriages (Statutes of the Isle of Man vol.i p.281) in very similar terms to the English Act of 1753. But the Manx Act differed in one significant respect from the latter, in requiring clergy from abroad, who were convicted of conducting marriages in breach of the Act's requirements, to be pilloried and have their ears cropped, before being imprisoned, fined and deported. The extracts from the two Acts below show how the Legislature adapted the English Act to deal with this threat from "come-overs".
The full text of the Manx Act can be viewed here. It was repealed, and the savage penalty for celebrating irregular marriages abolished, in 1849. It is not known if this punishment was ever imposed.
| England (1753) | Isle of Man (1757) |
| And whereas many Persons do solemnize Matrimony in Prisons and other Places without Publication of Banns or Licence of Marriage first had and obtained as aforesaid; Therefore, for prevention thereof, Be it enacted, | And whereas many Persons do solemnize Matrimony without Publication of Banns or Licence of Marriage first had and obtained as aforesaid; therefore for prevention thereof be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, |
| That if any Person shall from and after the said twenty-fifth Day of March in the Year one thousand seven hundred and fifty four, solemnize Matrimony in any other Place than in a Church or Public Chapel, where Banns have been usually published, unless by Special Licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury; or shall solemnize Marriage without Publication of Banns, unless Licence of Marriage be first had and obtained from some Person or Persons having Authority to grant the same, | That if any Person shall from and after the Publication of this Act solemnize Matrimony in any other Place within this Isle, or the Dominion thereof, than in a Church where Banns have been published, unless by Special Licence from the Bishop as aforesaid, or shall solemnize Marriage without Publication of Banns, unless Licence of Marriage be first had and obtained from some Person or Persons having Authority to grant the same as aforesaid, |
| every Person knowingly and wilfully so offending, and being lawfully convicted thereof, shall be deemed and adjudged to be guilty of Felony, and shall be transported to some one of his Majesty's Plantations in America for the Space of fourteen Years, according to the Laws in Force for Transportation of Felons; | every Person knowingly and wilfully so offending, and being lawfully convicted thereof, or Persons holding any Ecclesiasticall Living, or exercising any Ministerial Function in the Church or Chappel of this Isle, shall be deemed and adjudged to be guilty of Felony, and shall be transported to some of his Majesty's Plantations in America for the Space of fourteen Years; |
| and if such Person solemnizing Marriage contrary to this Act be an Alien, Foreigner, or Stranger, and not of the Ministry of this Isle, and convicted as aforesaid, such Alien shall be publickly exposed with his Ears nailed to a Pillory to be erected for that Purpose at Castletown Cross upon the next Court Day of General Gaol Delivery after such Conviction at twelve o'Clock at Noon, and there to remain for the Space of one Hour, when his Ears are to be cut off and remain on the said Pillory, and the said Offender to be returned to Prison in Castle Rushen, there to remain confined until the Governor or his Deputy or Deputies for the Time being shall think proper to release him, upon paying a Fine not exceeding the Sum of fifty Pounds, and abjuring this Isle; | |
| and all Marriages solemnized from and after the twenty-fifth Day of March in the Year one thousand seven hundred and fifty four in any other Place than a Church or such Publick Chapel, unless by Special Licence as aforesaid, or that shall be solemnized without Publication of Banns, or Licence of Marriage from a Person or Persons having Authority to grant the same first had and obtained, shall be null and void to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever; | and all Marriages solemnized from and after the Publication of this Act in any other Place than a Church, unless by Special Licence as aforesaid, or that shall be solemnized without Publication of Banns, or Licence of Marriage from a Person or Persons having Authority to grant the same first had and obtained, shall be null and void to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever; |