Whitsun weddings at May Fair Chapel

Before the Marriage Act, Whitsuntide was one of the favourite seasons for marrying. Hone tells how George Keith, a Scots episcopal minister, ran a marriage trade first in the Fleet and then at May Fair Chapel, with touts in the street asking passers-by if they wanted a parson. One morning in the Whitsun holidays Keith and his helpers married more couples at May Fair than any ten London churches together, until the Bishop of London excommunicated him.