A Staffordshire pearlware figure group of 'The New Marriage Act', circa 1825A Staffordshire pearlware figure group of 'The New Marriage Act', circa 1825The well-dressed couple standing before a clergyman and clerk, below a plaque inscribed 'The New Marriage Act, John Frill and Ann Boke Aged 21 that is right says the parson amen says the clerk', within an arched church interior, 15.5cm highThe Marriage Act of 1823 restricted the many reasons by which marriages could all too easily be annulled. A similar group is illustrated by Myrna Schkolne in People, Passions, Pastimes and Pleasures (2006), p.75. Another from the Sampson and Horne Collection was sold by Bonhams on 28 April 2010, lot 704.