Genealogy Chat

Hello,

I have just found a member of my tree b1895 3rdQ but she got married in 1910 4thQ which would make her just gone 15 her husband was 10 years older b1885
Where they able to marry in the UK at 15 years old or have I got something wrong??

Mary

Yes they were Mary, with parental consent.

Thank you RamblingRose I can now continue my search knowing I have it correct:-)
Mary

Girls could marry at 12 ,boys at 14 . My maternal grt grandmother was 15 years 8 months when she married in 1871,her spouse was 21

Mary - yes, you have got something wrong.

You have assumed their was a UK marriage law in 1910 - there wasn't - still isn't. Since you seem to quote GRO index dates, I think you should have asked the question about England & Wales, not the UK. Rose's qualification abt the need for parental approval doesn't apply throughout the UK - still doesn't, although the minimum age for marr was raised to 16 at various times in the late 1920s.

Parental approval wasn't needed for widows either, even in 1910 England.

OOps sorry...should have asked if the ref was to a marriage other than in England and Wales :-)

mgnv

not to sure what you mean about UK law according to the 1753 Marriage Act No marriage of a person under the age of 21 was valid without the consent of parents or guardians,some restriction was eventually removed in 1836 for Catholics and non-conformists so they could marry in their own place of worship
1n the 19th century with parents consent they could marry when 12 for a girl and 14 for a boy(no parental consent needed in Scotland)
In 1929 Parliament raised the age limit to 16
Seems to me it;s the same in England Wales and Scotland not sure about Ireland

The 1753 Act makes itself clear it's not a UK law, but just apples in England & Wales:

"XVIII. Provided likewise, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend to that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, nor to any Marriages amongst the People called Quakers, or amongst the Persons professing the Jewish Religion, where both the Parties to any such Marriage shall be of the People called Quakers, or Persons professing the Jewish Religion respectively, nor to any Marriages solemnized beyond the Seas."
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~framland/acts/1753.htm

As a result, in 1910, somewhere in the UK, to contract a legal marriage:
1) It wasn't necessary to be married in an approved place, nor a registrar's office. (My gg gran was married in her parents' house.)
2) It wasn't necessary for a vicar or a registrar to conduct a marriage - any responsible person could - you could even conduct your own wedding. (Marriages "over the anvil" at Greta Green are the most well known example.)
3) It wasn't necessary to go through any ceremony - you could just cohabit and say you were married. (This way of contracting a marriage was abolished in 2006.)

Laws relating to BMDs and their registration are down to the country concerned - they're not uniform across the UK.

mgnv, I think you should have made it clear that the second part of your post (As a result.....) only applied to Scotland

Potty - the real point I was trying to make is in the third part of that post:
"Laws relating to BMDs and their registration are down to the country concerned - they're not uniform across the UK."

Actually, they're not only not uniform across the UK - they're not uniform across former British colonies "beyond the Seas". That marriage & BMDs were a local concern of the individual colonies applied to the US colonies, and they didn't give their rights to the federal government when they formed the USA.

When Parliament was asked to draw up a constitution for Canada, they specifically preserved the rights of the colonies (newly called provinces).
"In each Province the Legislature may exclusively make Laws in relation to Matters within the Classes of Subject next herein-after enumerated; that is to say,-
12) The Solemnization of Marriage in the Province.
16) Generally all Matters of a merely local or private Nature in the Province."
[British North America Act 1867 Section 92]

When the British parliament enacted the Act to constitute the Commonwealth of Australia, 1900 - they did give the federal government legislative rights over marriage, but the feds didn't enact any laws until 1961, and marriages before that were under state/territorial law.