Historical births, marriages and deaths

Although accurate parish records do not go back far enough to prove the fact, there is good authority which tells that Francis Bacon, The Viscount St Alban, was married in the church of St Mary-by-the-Bourne on 11 May 1606 at the age of 45 to Alice Barnham, who was only 13.

Emma, Lady Hamilton, married Sir William Hamilton at St Marylebone Parish Church on 6 September 1791. She began her career as the mistress of a series of wealthy men, most notably the naval hero Lord Nelson.

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles was one of the very first people to be married in the then unfinished St Marylebone Parish Church on 22nd February in 1817, where he married Sophia Hull.

On September 12, 1846, the poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning were secretly married at Marylebone Church. They did not tell Elizabeth’s father, for fear of his disapproval, and she continued to live at the family home for a week after the wedding. Elizabeth and Robert then moved to Italy together, where they lived until Elizabeth’s death in 1861.

Henri Mouhot married Ann Park, a descendant (probably a granddaughter) of explorer Mungo Park, at St Marylebone in 1854 or 1855.

Thomas Evelyn Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden quietly married Miss Margherita Van Raalte in London in St Marylebone Parish Church in March 1912. Everything connected with the ceremony was kept secret, except to a small circle of relatives and intimate friends.

Judy Garland married her fifth and final husband, musician Mickey Deans, at Chelsea Register Office, London, on March 15, 1969, her divorce from Mark Herron having been finalized on February 11. A service of blessing was held at St Marylebone Parish Church later the same day which was conducted by the Assistant Curate, Peter Delaney, whom she had met in Hollywood.