"September, 1743. WHEREAS the Methods hitherto taken to prevent clandestine Marriages at the Fleet have prov'd ineffectual, though legal Notice hath been given by the Warden of the Fleet to such of his Tenants in whose houses it is reputed such Marriages have been suffer'd, to quit the Possession thereof; therefore, and as such Warning cannot immediately have the desir'd Effect, this Publick Notice is given, that, whoever shall make it appear to the Warden's Satisfaction that any of his Prisoners, shall at any time hereafter clandestinely marry, or be, in any manner however, concern'd in any clandestine Marriage, or suffer such Marriages to be performed in his, hers, or their Houses, or Lodgings, such Person or Persons making such Discovery, shall receive a Guinea Reward from the Turnkey of the said Prison.
There were several people of fortune married by Fleet parsons _vide Grub Street Journal_, September 18, 1735, "Married yesterday Will Adams, Esqr., to Miss Eleanor Watkins, a beautiful young lady, with a fortune of £15,000." And in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, May 6, 1735, "Married the Lord Robert Montagu, to Mrs. Harriet Dunch of Whitehall, with a fortune of £15,000."
Somewhat of a curiosity is recorded in "Notes and Queries," 4 series, vol. xii. p. 295. "I have before me an engraved medal, bearing the following inscription, about which I should be glad of information. 'May y^e 3, 1761. Thos. Wisely Maried Sarah Boswell in the Fleet Prison.'" This, in all probability, was a half-crown with one side made smooth, and the above engraved upon it.
There is no doubt but that, with a duly stamped licence and until they were specially done away with by Lord Hardwicke's Act of 1753, these marriages were legal; still there is an instance recorded in the _General Evening Post_, June 27/29, 1745, in which a Fleet marriage was ruled to be illegal. "Yesterday came on a cause at Doctor's Commons, wherein the plaintiff brought his action against the defendant for pretending to be his wife. She, in her justification, pleaded a marriage at the Fleet the 6th of February, 1737, and produced a Fleet Certificate, which was not allowed as evidence. She likewise offered to produce the minister she pretended married them, but he being excommunicate for clandestine marriages, could not be received as a witness. The Court thereupon pronounced against the marriage, and condemned her in £28, the costs of the suit."