Genealogy Chat

Pam At least one of my Cheshire relatives married at Manchester Cathedral - both sets of parents forbade the marriage. It was a 'no questions asked' operation. I beleive that on Feast Days, marriages and baptisms were free, including Christmas Day. On Christmas Day 1860, over 200 marriages were performed, the couples literally queuing up the aisles.The downside for researchers is that only the barest details were recorded, there is rarely info about parents, age or even where they live - and even if there is, do we trust it? There are quite a few other Peculiars and some of them are in very peculiar places, i.e. on top of a deserted moor etc. I will see if I can find a list I have, but dont hold your breath. OC

In 1969 the age at which you could marry without parental consent was lowered from 21 to 18. My gran married 8th Nov 1917. She always made a big thing of the fact that this was her 21st birthday. So.....if she had married the day before, she would have needed that parental consent. So, I was quite surprised to find that she was already recorded as aged 21 on the marriage licence which was issued a couple of weeks before the wedding. I just assumed she had lied to make things easier........ It was another year or so before I realised she DID marry on her birthday............her 25th!! LOL Merry

OC - I'm really pleased you posted the info about 'Peculiars' and in particular Manchester Cathedral. I've discounted quite a few of possibles in my searches as, although many lived in Lancs, Salop and Cheshire, none lived in Manchester. Will bear this valuable nugget in mind for the future. Thanks, Pam

Thanks very much Olde Crone. This coupple are driving me batty- William puts his father down as James (deceased)- can't find a death anywhere, so I bet he lied about that too! Grrrr- they don't make things simple for us do they :) Simone x

Simone (I'll shut up after this, lol) Consent for a marriage under 21 was needed, but in my experience anyway, this was widely ignored. The couples either lied about their ages, or the Vicar got verbal permission from the parents but forgot to enter this in the register. In some cases, he may have looked at the pregnant 19 year old and decided marriage against her parents wishes was the lesser of two evils. And there were certain Churches and Cathedrals, called Peculiars, which were outside Ecclesiastical Law and the Civil Law. They did not require any proof of age or residency and they were very popular for performing marriages. I believe that Manchester Cathedral was one of these. OC

Thanks Everyone for you replies. Thanks Olde Crone for the additional info :) Don't be apologising! I have always understood that it has for a long time been legal to marry under 21, but from what you say in your examples there was parental consent. Just wanted to check that you could only marry after age 21 without parental consent. Hope that makes sense. Thanks again Simone x

I married in 1966 at 19 OH was 20. We had to have parental consent. I can still remember having to chase round after FIL to sign the papers. There was no question of having to get married, it was still the law for minors then. Jen

Sorry to be argumentative, but the age at which a 'perfect' marriage could be contracted, was 12 for girls, 14 for boys.This accorded with Norman French Law, so from about 1066! Before Hardwick's Marriage Act, a marriage could be performed under these ages, but it was legally an 'imperfect' marriage.As these child marriages were almost universally amongst the Gentry, the marriage was a binding contract in law and either side could demand a ';fine' if the imperfect marriage did not result in a perfect marriage, that is, if the couple did not live together when both sets of parents decided it was time they did. It was also quite usual for either child to be sent to live with the other set of parents, in order to learn the ways of that household. Oliver Cromwell briefly raised the marriage age to 16, but it reverted back again after the Restoration. Having said all that, I have absolute proof of a marriage taking place in 1730 - the boy was barely 12 and the girl was just 12. Both were known to the Vicar, who had baptised them both AND entered their birthdates in the register. They produced a child about five months after the marriage! Olde Crone

My mother married on her 21st birthday (much later on though, in 1950) and because she'd had to give notice the statutory time in advance (while she was still 20) and hadn't been born until almost midnight, she still had to have parental consent. It all turned out OK and she was married for over 50 years.

Marriage under the age of 21 was supposed to be 'under license' meaning parental consent was required. So many people lied about the age and no widespread checks were made,so it is highly likely that the age on a certificate is wrong by a few years. Glen

My great grandparents married at 19/20 and said they were 22 - that would have been about 1923, neither had parental consent so lied. Their parents didn't find out for ages after the wedding.

Thanks for that Stockport - does it say anything about upper age- i.e Did you have to be 21 to wed without parental consent? Simone x

Before Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753 there was no lower legal age of marriage, except during the 1650's when it was 16 for men and 14 for women. In 1753 it was fixed at 14 for men and 12 for women and remained at that until the Age of Marriage Act 1929 when it was raised to 16 for both.' Above taken verbatim from The Family Tree Detective by Colin D Rogers

Thanks Helen- I married in 1986- can't remember yesterday, let alone that far back! :) Simone x

Regardless of what you said about your age at marriage I don't think any checks were done. I wasn't asked for proof of my age or identity when I married in 1990 either. They just wanted proof of my address.

If someone lied about their age in 1905 and said that they were 25 instead of 19, because they could not get parental consent, would they have had to prove their age at all? Thanks Simone x