Maybe that's why when I married my first husband the vicar said he couldn't marry us if he was drunk!!! (My husband that is, not the vicar) Cyndi in Leighton Buzzard, Beds UK So much to learn, so little time ----- Original Message ----- From: Barbara Mallyon To: HAMPSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 9:31 AM Subject: Re: [Ham] Hampshire Strays Hi David, The Basingstoke Group of the Hampshire Genealogical Society had a Speaker from the Basingstoke Library, he was very informative and did not give any stats on literacy. Some brides and grooms celebrated their wedding in the local pub before they were wed, some of them could read and or write their own signature, when it came to the signing of the Marriage Certificate they were too drunk. Visiting the local pub and being enumerated before a marriage ceremony, was the vicar taking the ceremony, this often happened and what a mess up he made of the Marriage Certificates, I have 5 of them to prove it.. Regards Barbara Lewis Mallyon Basingstoke, Hants, UK BarbaraMallyon@lewmal.co.uk ----- Original Message ----- From: "DAVID PARKER" <parker3250@rogers.com> To: "Barbara Mallyon" <BarbaraMallyon@lewmal.co.uk> Cc: <HAMPSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 1:12 AM Subject: Re: [Ham] Hampshire Strays | Hi Barbara, | I was interested in your reference to Libraries. Do you | have stats on the literacy rate in the Victorian era? Many of my family's | marriage certificate were still being signed with a mark. Was there a | difference between the literacy rate in rural areas and urban areas? | | David | | | ----- Original Message ----- | From: "Barbara Mallyon" <BarbaraMallyon@lewmal.co.uk> | To: <HAMPSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> | Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2005 10:10 AM | Subject: [Ham] Hampshire Strays | | | > Hello All, | > | > The 1861 Census Index for Guildford, Surrey shows that almost 50% of the | > people living and working in Guildford were not people not born in | > Guildford. There were even more people that came to Guildford from Sussex | > than from Hampshire, they came from all of the home counties, Kent, | > Berkshire, Wiltshire, and other places. | > | > There was a lot of work for them, the River Wey had warehouse along its | > bank, building work, the town was growing, there was also a printing | works, | > books etc. | > | > Winchester was one of the first libraries to open under the 1850, Act with | > Reading Rooms. Books were becoming popular, people could borrow a book | from | > the library for one penny, this gave the printing works plenty of work. | > | > Regards | > | > Barbara Lewis Mallyon | > Basingstoke, Hants, UK | > BarbaraMallyon@lewmal.co.uk | > | > | > | > | > ==== HAMPSHIRE Mailing List ==== | > Treat others as you wish to be treated yourselves, with respect | > Visit the knightroots website at www.knightroots.co.uk | > | | ==== HAMPSHIRE Mailing List ==== Parish Register transcriptions for some parishes are available on line at www.knightroots.co.uk - click "parish registers"