Genealogy Chat

On researching my ancestry, I was surprised to learn that in 1762 one of my great forefathers married at the age of 14 and his bride was only 12.I checked with Google, and it was confirmed that prior to the 19th century, it was acceptable for teen marriages, and they quoted the average age for men was 12.5 and girls 13.5. The reason given was thatlife expectancy was 45, and that as soon as girls were able to bear children, so they started their families. Has anybody else experienced this in their research ? George

Hi George

While I've not had any marriages between two young people - I have had a marriage between a 41 year old man and a 13/14 year old girl. They married in India and seems her parents were totally fine with it - I certainly wouldn't be!

x

The age at which a person could marry and at which they would require consent has changed since 1837. Then marriage could be at 12 for a girl and 14 for a boy, but consent of parent(s) was required for both up to the age of 21. In 1926 the age of marriage for both parties was raised to 16 but consent for both was still required until 21. Now, the age at which people can marry is still 16 but the age for consent has been lowered to 18

from http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm

Roy

A note to mine - this marriage happened in 1810 - he had not been married before but had fathered at least one child with a 'native woman'.

He and his young wife went on to have seven children then he died in 1825 and she remarried in 1831 but died only 5 weeks later.

Her obituary reads 'Pity her survivors'

Re George's statement: "I checked with Google, and it was confirmed that prior to the 19th century, it was acceptable for teen marriages, and they quoted the average age for men was 12.5 and girls 13.5."

Although marriages as young as 14 and 12 were legal, I don't think they were really viewed as acceptable, and those average age figures look very implausible to me.

Here's what GRO(S) says:
"Before 1929, Scots law followed Roman law in allowing a girl to marry at twelve years of age and a boy at fourteen, without any requirement for parental consent. However, according to one early 20th-century source*, marriage in Scotland at such young ages was in practice almost unknown. No doubt if marriages between children had become common, there would have been public pressure to raise the legal minimum age of marriage earlier than 1929. The Age of Marriage Act 1929 (applying in Scotland, England & Wales but not in Northern Ireland) made void any marriage between persons either of whom was under the age of sixteen. Sixteen remains the lower age-limit today, contained in the current legislation, the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977. Scots law still has no requirement for parental consent. *Source: Vital registration: a manual of the law and practice concerning the registration of births, deaths and marriages. (G T Bisset-Smith. 1st edition. Edinburgh: William Green & Sons, 1902) "

Source URL (needs rejoining):
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/regscot/getting-married-in-scotland/
what-was-and-is-the-minimum-age-for-marriage-in-scotland.html

Incidentally, in England a widow(er) or divorcee who was under 21 would not need a parent's consent as they "are supposed emancipated" [Blackstone].