Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/409

 us. ix. MAY 23, 1914] KOTES AND QUERIES.

403

the two authorities," in no wise impair the value of the list supplied by the Doctor of all that is known of Jewel's " excellent library of .books." The minor differences in name- spelling Jewell and Jewel, Humphrey and Humfrey though noticeable, are immaterial. J. B. McGovEBN.

(To be continued.)

GRETNA GREEN RECORDS.

(See 10 S. ii. 386.)

HAVING recently had occasion to examine certain of the records of the Gretna Green irregular marriages, and being indebted to your columns of some years ago for the information which gave me the clue to their whereabouts, it occurs to me that a brief note showing their present ownership might possibly be welcome to such of your readers as may have to undertake a similar quest.

Those papers which your previous corre- spondent gave as being with Mr. Simon Lang of Felling are now the property of Mr. W. H. Or'd, solicitor, 9, Swinburne Street, Gateshead-on-Tyne. This gentle- man is undertaking an Index, which will, when completed, be of the utmost value to future searchers. Before a personal ex- amination is undertaken, Mr. Ord should be written to for an appointment ; he will, however, on payment of a fee, himself make the search. The Registers, which are those of " Priest " Laing, are fairly well kept in a series of small volumes. Only a few isolated marriages approach the extreme date of 1783 given in your earlier volume, and the bulk are much later. It was by " Priest " Laing that the famous Lord Erskine's marriage was performed.

Almost contemporary with this series are the papers of Robert Elliott, which, though not mentioned at all in your previous volume, are of the greatest importance. On the strength of having married the grand- daughter of Paisley, the original " priest," Elliott claimed to be the only genuine officiator, looking upon his rival, David Laing, with contempt. In his ' Memoirs,' which are in the British Museum, he claims during the period of his "ministry " (1811- 1839) to have married 7,744 persons. His papers, which are loose, are now with Mrs. Pearson. 51, St. Nicholas' Street, Carlisle, who will allow of inspection for a fee or will search herself. These papers include a few much earlier records of " Priest " Paisley, but the bulk of the collection begins in 1811. Besides the notes of marriages,

there are a few such papers as promissory notes and letters, mostly from wedded clients explaining their inability to pay their marriage fees. As Elliott puts it in his ' Memoirs ' :

" Although I sometimes got handsomely paid by people of high rank, it was generally by bills which, when they became due, were dishonoured." The series mentioned in your former note as in the hands of Mrs. Armstrong of Dor- nock has now passed to her son, Mr. John Linton Armstrong of Mount View, East- field Road, Dumfries, the grandson of the second wife of Mr. John Linton, " priest " at Gretna Hall from 1825 to 1851. The- original certificates and the Marriage Regis- ter 182554 (continued by his successor) were put up at Sotheby's in 1912, and bought for 420?. ; but Mr. Armstrong has a small book, very carefully kept probably that in which 'the " priest " first entered his records, before copying them into the larger book. This small book contains about 600- marriages, and embraces from 1825 to 1840- It includes a note of the famous runaway marriage of 1836 between Prince Charles Bourbon of Naples and Miss Smyth of Waterford ; many of your readers will be aware that this wedding, which nearly led to diplomatic complications, was afterwards re-celebrated in London and Rome. An- other marriage in Mr. Linton's Register was in the following year, between the Duke of Sforza-Cesarini and Miss Shirley of Chartley^, Staffs. Indeed, the advantages of Gretna would appear to have been well known on the Continent, for with Mrs. Pearson I noted an entry of 1820, and with Mr. Ord another of 1817, where the respective bridegrooms hailed from " Strasburg in the Netherlands " and " Ghent in French Flanders." Mr. Armstrong possesses a fine oil painting of his grandfather, the "priest." I ought to* say that this gentleman treated me with the greatest kindness, and was at considerable pains to assist me in the objects of my inquiry.

Your previous note mentioned still an- other series (1843-65) in the custody of Messrs. Wright, Brown & Strong, solicitors, Carlisle. To these papers there is an Index, though not in alphabetical order, and this the firm is glad to search on payment of a small fee. Messrs. Wright & Co. also have a list showing the present ownership of various smaller collections of Gretna papers, such as those at present with the Annan Bank.

Considering the numbers of Gretna mar- riages I have a reference in 1822 to a