Hi Is anyone able to tell me if it was legal for 13 year old girls be be married in 1857. I have only just realised (although I have had it on the computer for at least 2 years) that my 2x Great Aunt Aunt was married 8 months before her 14th birthday. Regards Eveline

Hi Eveline It was legal (girls could be married at 12 until as late as 1929!) but extremely rare by the mid nineteenth century for someone this young to marry. The average at marriage for women remained at around 26 until very recent times. Cheers, Dave Dave Annal ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eveline Clarke" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2008 11:24 AM Subject: [WOR] Marriage Age > Hi > > Is anyone able to tell me if it was legal for 13 year old girls be be > married in 1857. I have only just realised (although I have had it on > the computer for at least 2 years) that my 2x Great Aunt Aunt was married > 8 months before her 14th birthday. > > Regards > > Eveline > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Dave Annal wrote: > Hi Eveline > > It was legal (girls could be married at 12 until as late as 1929!) but > extremely rare by the mid nineteenth century for someone this young to > marry. The average at marriage for women remained at around 26 until very > recent times. It was well after 1929 that it became illegal for Irish girls to marry at that age. IIRC, it was into the 1970s! I have two instances of very young girls (one 12, the other 14) marrying in one family. One was an early 19th century marriage, the other late 19th century. In both instances though, there were no children registered until they were around 17. That's not to say there weren't any stillbirths or miscarriages before then, but I like to think the husbands were considerate ;))

Hi Eveline What age does she give in the 1861 census ? Mike Fisher in Droitwich ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eveline Clarke" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2008 11:24 AM Subject: [WOR] Marriage Age > Hi > > Is anyone able to tell me if it was legal for 13 year old girls be be > married in 1857. I have only just realised (although I have had it on > the computer for at least 2 years) that my 2x Great Aunt Aunt was married > 8 months before her 14th birthday. > > Regards > > Eveline > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >