Married at 15 - Kirkby Stephen 1924

[tillypeg]

This may be useful for someone - I found the following in the Northern Echo Monday 28th July 1924:

"Married at 15. Romantic Affair at Kirkby Stephen. 
Early on Saturday morning a motor car drove up to the church gates at Kirkby Stephen and the party consisting of two gentlemen and two ladies, the ladies having attaché cases with them, entered the Parish Church.  They turned out to be bride and bridegroom and friends, the bride being only 15 years of age.  On re-joining the waiting car after the ceremony the bride was recognised by many girlfriends and almost smothered in confetti."

Probable GRO ref is S1924 E. Ward 10b 1401.

The two couples with that ref are James Fothergill & Margaret A Irving and Robert H Robinson & Margaret H Tatters.

In the Announcements column on the same page was the following: 

"The marriage took place at the Parish Church, Kirkby Stephen on Saturday of Miss Maggie Irving and Mr James Fothergill.  The bride is a teacher."

In 1911 Margaret Hannah Tatters is age 2, living in East Ward district, so it could be that the unnamed bride of 15 is Miss Tatters rather than Miss Irving.

[dawnsh]

Unusual and would require parental consent as one or both was still a minor but from Lord Hardwicke's marriage act of 1753 the legal age was fixed at fourteen for men and twelve for women, and remained at those ages until the Age of Marriage Act in 1929, which raised the age to sixteen for both.

Dawn

[dawnsh]

Sorry, clicked post too soon.

Info here

http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/relationships/overview/lawofmarriage-/

[CaroleW]

Freebmd has her birth in the December qtr of 1908

[Epithyris]

So grateful to you for posting this.  The lady in question was my grandmother, who lived to the ripe old age of 99, only dying in 2007.  At the time of her marriage she was heavily pregnant with my mother. 
I'm very new to this genealogy lark (and joined Rootschat only because Google directed me to the forum because of your article), so perhaps you could tell me how I might access the article itself, please?
Thanks again

[dawnsh]

Hi Epithyris

Welcome to Rootschat 

The British Newspaper Archive are currently working with the British Library to digitise and put online papers from their collections. Whilst the Northern Echo is being put online, it's not upto 1924 yet.

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1900-01-01/1949-12-31?newspapertitle=northern%20echo&sortorder=dayearly

Tillypeg should receive email notifications that we have posted here and hopefully come back soon to tell you wherethe article was found. I would suggest that it might have been seen at a local archives possibly here

http://www.durhamrecordoffice.org.uk/Pages/familyhistory.aspx

Dawn

[tillypeg]

I'm really sorry to be so tardy in responding Epithyris, but for some reason I am not getting notifications when a reply has been posted.  If you reply to this posting a couple of times, then I can send you a Personal Message. (you need 3 postings first)  We can then swap email addresses and I will endeavour to get you a copy of the article.  The Northern Echo archives are at the Darlington Local Studies Library, all on microfilm, so I can get a print done and then scan & email it to you or post, whatever.

Regards, belatedly!
Tillypeg

[Epithyris]

Many thanks for getting back to me.  The more I delve into this lady's life, the more I'm plunged into doom!  Her only son (7 years old) was killed when a car ploughed into him as the family left chapel on a Sunday morning.  Then they all left Newbiggin to manage a farm in North Wales - and within a short time the owner was declared bankrupt, so they lost the tenancy.  At about the same time my mother got scarlet fever, so was confined to an isolation hospital.  Just as she was getting better she picked up diptheria there, which meant transfer to another hospital for recuperation. A few years later my gran and grandad divorced (mega-scandal in 1948), and my mother refused to have any more to do with grandmother.  Despite the fact that she lived till she was 99 I never knew of her existence until a casual conversation with an aunt led to the beans being spilled just a few years ago.
My own daughter is fascinated by the history, and wants me to continue collecting data because she thinks there is enough in it all for a book.  I suspect she's right!

[tillypeg]

Wow, what a story!  It's amazing what turns up in the newspapers.  Was the 7 year old's fatal accident local too?  Have you a date for that?

Reply to this then I can PM you.

Tillypeg