Genealogy Chat

Is it legal for a brother to marry his brothers widow. thanks carol.

Hi There The list of forbidden marriages was drawn up by the Church of England in 1560. This made it illegal to marry your Brother's wife. This remained law until it was repealed in the 1921 Marriage Act. It then became lawful to marry provided your Brother was deceased. Hope Ths Helps Carol

It might have been illegal but it wasn't uncommon.

This is a list of who you cannot marry:- Men cannot marry:- Women cannot marry:- Grandmother Grandfather Mother Father mother's sister father's brother mother's half sister father's half brother father's sister mother's brother father's half-sister mother's half-brother adoptive mother - see below apdoptive father - see below Sister Brother half-sister half-brother Daughter Son adoptive daughter - see below adpoted son - see below sister's daughter sister's son half-sister's daughter half-sister's son brother's daughter brother's son half-brother's daughter half-brother's son Granddaughter Grandson It may have been different in the past. Kath. x

Thanks Carol That answers my question the 2nd marraige was in 1924 the husband died in 1921. It was very confusing to see two graves of the two brothers each having a wife with the same name. Its took me all afternoon to sort out and that was the only conclusion I could come up with. Regards Carol

Thanks Kath I've copied and saved that info Regards Carol

I've got this twice in my tree, in the 1850's both times.

Would anyone know if the following example would be considered incest or not? This exists in my tree and I am supposing that it would be OK, but only just. Henry married Ann and had a girl named Alice. Meanwhile a man called James married Hannah and had a boy called James. Hannah disappeared (presumed dead) and Henry died so James senior married Ann. Then, Henry's daughter Alice married James' son James. Would this be considered not incestuous, as Alice and James junior were not blood related?

Kate, as far as I can follow your example, they were step-brother and sister, which does not appear on the list of banned relationships, presumably as they were not blood relations. However, I personally think that if they were brought up in the same family as step siblings, it must have been weird to marry- just my opinion ofcourse!!!

Thanks, Ann. I thought that might be the case. I may be wrong but I thought I read that in modern times you can't marry anyone who you have been brought up as a sibling of ie. if you lived with an adoptive sibling or a step-sibling all through childhood but I may have misunderstood that.