In 1813 she sold them to a Mr. William Cox, who, in 1821, sold them to the Government for £260 6s. 6d., and the following letter shows us what became of them.
"SIR,--It having been judged expedient to purchase a set of books containing the original Entries of Marriages solemnized in the Fleet Prison, and Rules thereof, from the year 1686 to the year 1754. I have been honoured with his Majesty's commands to desire that you will receive the said books from Mr. Maule the Solicitor to the Treasury, and give him a receipt for the same, and deposit them in the Registry of the Consistory Court of London.
"The Registrar of the Consistory Court of London, or his Deputy."
Here they remained until the abolition of the Court in 1840, by Act of Parliament, 3 and 4 Vic. cap. 92, when they were declared inadmissible as evidence in law. Sec. 6 says, "And be it enacted That all Registers and Records deposited in the General Register Office by virtue of this Act, except the Registers and Records of Baptisms and Marriages at _The Fleet_, and _King's Bench_ Prisons, at _May Fair_, at the _Mint_ in _Southwark_, and elsewhere, which were deposited in the Registry of the Bishop of _London_ in the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty One, as hereinafter mentioned, shall be deemed to be in legal Custody, and shall be receivable in Evidence in all Courts of Justice, subject to the Provisions hereinafter contained."
And Section 20 provides thus, "And be it enacted, That the several Registers and Records of Baptisms and Marriages performed at the Fleet" (&c., &c., as in Section 6) "shall be transferred from the said Registry to the Custody of the Registrar-General, who is hereby directed to receive the same for safe custody." And it recapitulates that they shall not be received as evidence at law.
They are kept at Somerset House, where they can be examined for a small fee. A great number of them are memorandum books, and Burn, when he examined them at Doctors Commons, in 1833, did not much like his job. "It is to be wished that they were better arranged and indexed. There are several very large indexes, which only requires a little time and attention to ascertain to what Registers they refer. The Pocket books also, might be bound together, and preserved from dust and dirt; and if Government would give about £300 these objects might be attained. It was a labour of many months to go through so many hundreds of dusty, dirty, and sometimes ragged books."