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In 1888, the age of both the bride and groom was given explicitly in 95% of marrs in Eng/Wal. Of the 193508 brides mentioned above, 1 was 13, 2 were 14, and 18 were 15.
http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser?path=Browse/Registrar%20General%20(by%20date)/1881-1890&active=yes&mno=514&tocstate=expandnew&display=sections&display=tables&display=pagetitles&pageseq=152&zoom=4

As stated above, in 1888, the legal minimum age was 12 for females and 14 for males.This was true throughout the UK.

The legal minimum age was raised to 16 in 1929 in England and Wales, and Scotland. The act did not apply to N Ireland. Parental consent for the marriage of a minor was required. in England/Wales. At that time, minors were under 21, not under 18 like now.
https://web.archive.org/web/20090416074713/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com:80/~framland/acts/age1929.htm

Parental consent was not required for Scotland, nor for minors who had previously been married.

I guess the situation in Ireland pre-partition (1/1/1921), then N Ireland afterwards was similar to England.

For info, she did give that age in the 1891 census in West Derby

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7QZG-KMM

Thomas Speir Head M 26 Ireland
Margaret C Speir Wife F 17 Ireland

= dob 1873 after the census date, as per the birth record

It was legal too in England /wales

My maternal grt grandmother was 15 when she married in 1880 her groom was 21

They lived in East Ham London and he was stevedore in the London Docks

Her elder sister married at 16 too

Yes, that's the correct Margaret. They married 11 Oct 1888 in Colaghty Church, Co. Fermanagh. My first thoughts were that she was pregnant but my Grandfather was the eldest child and he wasn't born until 1891. Some time between their marriage in 1888 and 1889 they moved to Liverpool. As to having to have parental consent, her mother died in 1873 but I can't find a death for her father. Can't imagine anyone marrying at 12 years old.
Thanks.

Seems that the following would apply, though I assume would need parental consent

"Irish females could legally be wed at age 12 and males at age 14."

For info

reland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911


Name: Margaret Catherine Brock
Gender: Female
Birth Date: 9 Oct 1873
Birth Place: Irvinestown No 1, Ferm, Ireland
Father: James Brock
Mother: Margaret Jane Graham


Ireland, Civil Registration Marriages Index, 1845-1958


Name: Margaret Catherine Brock
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec, 1888
Registration district: Irvinestown, Ireland
Volume: 2
Page Number: 127
FHL Film Number: 101255
Records on Page:
Name
Margaret Catherine Brock
Thomas Aiken
Catherine Hoey
James Gilmore
Thomas Speir


Andy

What was the location? Not seeing the marriage?

edit, Ireland?

These two are my Great Grandparents. She was born in 1873 and they married in 1888. If you do the math this makes her 15 when she married ... would that have been legal?