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My 2x Great Aunt Mary Ellen Crossdale married on November 9th 1897, which was a Tuesday! I have read in a local history book that couples sometimes got married in their dinner breaks and then went back to work, but would this have really happened? both parties worked in the cotton mill....as did their families, we know that it was a dirty dusty occupation so would they have had time to scrub up, get married and still get back to their looms in time to start work, this isn't the first marriage that I have come across that took place on a weekday and I wonder if it was more common to do that in the 19th century rather than marry on a Saturday!

It wouldn't surprise me if it was true - I don't think there was the expensive pomp and ceremony that takes place these days. Particularly if there had been a little bit of mischief

I married on a Tuesday.

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Mel

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I think it was very common in earlier times for people to be married on a day other than Saturday. My grandmother married on a Monday in 1903, in 1883 a great aunt married on a Thursday, and as late as 1936 my parents married on a Tuesday. All these marriages were in Burnley but I think it was a widespread practice.

There is a website scphillips.com/cgi-bin/day.cgi which will tell you the day of the week if you type in a date.

Joan

Out of interest/curiosity - were the weekday marriages in the church or register office?

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Mel

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Hi Joan,
I just followed your link and the first one I looked at was in 1841 and they got married on a monday, I shall now hunt through them all.
Incidentally, we got married on a friday.
This is really interesting and I have never thought to look at the day before. A lot of mine from all over Lancashire/Yorkshire/Cheshire were monday or tuesday, and even the odd one on a thursday.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Two of them were in churches. My parents were married in Hanover Methodist church in 1936, and my grandparents in St. Stephen's in 1903. I don't know about the 1883 one but I should think it was in a Methodist church as well.

Glad you like the website link, Gloria. I've found that knowing the day of weddings, or other events, helps add a personal touch to the details.

Joan

Yes Joan, it's interesting to double check dates.

I am a Tuesday child have my doubts sometimes as I trip and slide around the garden.
My parents were married on a Thursday, I didn't know that either.
Gonna have fun looking up dates on this website .

As long as I can remember I have known the following story about my grandparents' wedding - but it is only today that I have checked out on which day of the week they were married.

Edward Midgley married Sarah Jane Pickles at Colne Parish Church on 18 June 1901 - which was, as it turns out, a Tuesday.

My grandfather, an overlooker, was working for his uncle and so went to him to ask for a day off to get married. His uncle's response was to ask the time of the marriage. When my grandfather told him that it would be in the afternoon, his uncle replied:

"Well, in that case, there's no need for you to take the morning off!"

Ruth

My great-grandparents: Richard Townley and Caroline Andrew, were married on a Thursday (4-Jan 1883) in the Independent Chapel located in Uppermill, Saddleworth.