Find your ancestors in Westminster Banns

Discover your English ancestry through this collection of banns records from Westminster. Banns records can tell you the dates the banns were announced in the parish church as well as the couple’s parishes of residence. Use this information to find your ancestor in census records.

With each result, you will find a transcript of the original parish register. The detail in each transcript can vary but most will include a combination of the following.

• Name
• Banns date
• Marriage date
• Residence
• Spouse’s name
• Spouse’s residence
• Parish and county
• Archive

Discover more about these records

Parish registers are a vital source for tracing your family history. The practice of recording baptisms, banns, marriages and burials in the Anglican Church was introduced by Thomas Cromwell in 1538. The events were recorded on loose paper until 1597 when bounded volumes were instituted. In 1753, it was decided that marriages and banns should be recorded separately from other life events. Then in 1812, printed register books were introduced. Banns announcements, which were a notice of a couple’s intention to marry, took place on three successive Sundays prior to the wedding date. The existence of a banns record does not denote that a marriage undeniably took place. All of the Westminster banns are held by the Westminster City Archives.