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Historical legal minimum ages for marriage?
Profile | Posted by | Options | Post Date |
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Monique | Report | 29 Aug 2008 14:05 |
Hi. Although a woman (or man) can't get married in England unless they are 16, does anyone know what the previous legal age restrictions were during the 1800s and 1900s? I can't imagine they have changed that often. Thank you. Monique |
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Shirley~I,m getting the hang of it | Report | 29 Aug 2008 14:15 |
Yes they were 12 for girls and 14 for boys with parental consent think this went right up to the 1920,s when it was changed to 16 |
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Researching: |
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Monique | Report | 29 Aug 2008 14:26 |
Hi Shirley, thank you so much for that information. |
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mgnv | Report | 30 Aug 2008 12:39 |
Mick in the Sticks is correct - apart from the exclusion of Scotland from the UK - a blacksmith or anyone at all (or even no one) could act as a witness and conduct a marriage ceremony until the late 1920s. The other main difference in ways of legally contracting a marriage (by cohabitation and repute, usually called a common law marriage in England, but it usually implies no legal marriage there) was recently abolished in 2006. |