HI Jan, I suspect that the reason there are two copies of the marriage, and other marriages that you have found, is that the register where the couple signed their names is the original Parish Register entry. The other entry is perhaps the Bishop's Transcript copy As I understand it, Bishop's Transcripts were compiled, as an identical copy, by each church from it's parish registers periodically ready for the Bishops visitation. Not all BTs survive as they were just a copy made for the Bishop and not the original register. Whereas the Parish Registers should have been kept, though not all have survived over time. Regards Jenny DeAngelis Spain. <<I have found the following record: Mary WASPER married John THOROUGHWOOD on 21 July 1822 at St Mary, Staines. She was noted as being from Longford, Middlesex, and John THOROUGHWOOD was noted as being from Saffron Walden in Essex. They were both sojourners in this parish, ie St Mary, Staines. Also, there are 2 original copies of the record of this marriage (both no. 72)...they are identical except that on one of them the witnesses and Mary have signed their names...Mary's is a bit wobbly but very clear, and the other one has the vicar filling in the whole thing. I am guessing that he had assumed no-one could write, and they put him straight and insisted on doing it themselves. Could this have happened? I just noticed there are several other duplicates, and now wonder if the vicar rewrote them thinking the ones with the original signatures were a bit messy!!?>>