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Author Topic: Was there an age limit?  (Read 276 times)
Jayson
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Was there an age limit?
« on: Monday 29 December 08 13:44 UTC (UK) »
Hi all

This is something I've been wondering about for ages: was there an age restriction for people signing a marriage register as a witness?

In 1772, John Hamnett married Martha Bellyse.  One of the witnesses was a James Bayley but I'm not entirely sure whether it was father or son.  The son was born in 1759 and would have been thirteen (in July) that year.

Jayson  Smiley
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Berlin-Bob
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Re: Was there an age limit?
« Reply #1 on: Monday 29 December 08 13:48 UTC (UK) »
Hi Jayson,

There are two topics on Marriage Witness - Age in the
RootsChat Reference Library => Lexicon (click here)

Perhaps the answer is already there, though, as with all legal questions, it may be very dependant on the year of the event.

regards,
Bob
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All Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)
Jayson
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Posts: 1159


Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Re: Was there an age limit?
« Reply #2 on: Monday 29 December 08 13:51 UTC (UK) »
Thanks Bob

The marriage ceremony was in 1772.

Jayson Wink
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Jebber
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Re: Was there an age limit?
« Reply #3 on: Monday 29 December 08 14:37 UTC (UK) »
According to a Registrar with an interest in Family History, to whom I spoke  a couple of years ago, there has never been an age restriction on marriage witnesses, they simply had to be old enough to understand what they were a witness to.

It was a subject of interest to me, as at a time when the age of majority was 21,  a Registrar refused to allow me to act as witness at a friend's marriage because I was only 18, although I had been married  myself a few weeks earlier.

Jebber
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CHOULES All
COLE Gt. Oakley, Essex.
DUNCAN Kent
HORSCROFT Kent.
KING Sturminster Newton, Dorset.
MONK Odiham, Hampshire.
RAM(M)EL(L), Kent.
WILKINS Stour Provost, Dorset.
WICKHAM All in North Essex.
WICKHAM Medway Towns, Kent from 1880
WICKHAM, Ipswich, Suffolk.
stanmapstone
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Re: Was there an age limit?
« Reply #4 on: Monday 29 December 08 16:15 UTC (UK) »
As Berlin-Bob  says this subject has been covered before but just to say, at the risk of repetition,  that in 1772 the relevant Act is that of 1753 which only states;
XV. And in order to preserve the Evidence of Marriages, and to make the Proof thereof more certain and easy, and for the Direction of Ministers in the Celebration of Marriages and registering thereof, Be it enacted, That from and after the twenty-fifth Day of March in the Year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four, all Marriages shall be solemnized in the Presence of two or more credible Witnesses, besides the Minister
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~framland/acts/1753.htm
Credible Worthy of belief or confidence; trustworthy, reliable.
Stan
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Mapstone, Mapston. Sunderland, Somerset
Census Information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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