If someone lied about their age....

[FeeJay]

would it make any difference to the legality of their marriage.

I recently sent for a marriage certificate for one of my husband's ancestors and the lady in question gave her age as 21. I have looked her up in all subsequent censuses and her age is four years younger. Family legend has it that she was actually 17 when she married.

My husband is wondering (and me too now) does lying about this mean the marriage is  not legal?

FeeJay

[Guy Etchells]

Depends on the year of the marriage, in some cases it would be voidable.
Cheers
Guy

[Marmaduke 123]

I have one like this too. The couple married by banns in 1844. They married in a different parish to the one they both lived in and lied about their place of residence and the bride's age (she was only 16). She also gave a false name - Smith would you believe?

Anne

[Little Nell]

Quote from Colin Chapman's Marriage Laws, Rites, Records & Customs Chapter 3

Canon 100 of 1603 forbade, but did not invalidate, marriage of persons under 21, except with parental consent.  The legal age for marriage from 29 September 1653 was fixed at 16 for a man amd 14 for a woman, and any contract or marriage or persons below these ages was void.  In 1660 the pre-Interregnum laws were reinstated and the ages o0f marriage reverted to 14 for a groom ans 12 for a bride.

Lord Hardwicke's 1753 Marriage Act [made] it illegal for those in England under the age of 21 to get married without the consent of their parents or guardians.......However, the consent requirement was repealed and replaced in 1823.  The replacement act directed that such consent be obtained, although a marriage wanting it was neither void nor voidable.....

From the start of the same chapter:

A valid marriage has no legal defects and is binding on all parties.  It can be terminated only be death or a decree of divorce acknowledging the valid marriage and then ending it.
A void marriage has never come into real existence because of some fundamental legal defect.  No decree of nullity is needed if the parties wish to end the partnership as it has always (ab initio) been void.
A voidable marriage is valid unless and untill annulled by a court at the instance of one spouse during the lifetime of both.  After the death of one spouse the marriage is unimpeachable.

Nell

[FeeJay]

Thanks for all your replies.

Thanks for the quotes Little Nell. The wedding in question took place in 1873 so it's ok.

I must admit I'm a bit worried about the rest of the details. I know the bridegroom's family history but was getting nowhere with the bride. On the certificate it gives her father's name and profession and I have found a person who matches this description on several censuses. BUT..... I cannot find this woman on any censuses before her marriage. The man who is given as the father had a daughter of the bride's age but not of the same name!

The mystery is... is she this girl with a name change....or has she lied about her father? I'm not sure there's any way of finding out.

FeeJay

[Necromancer]

try searching for her by just christian name and DoB/PoB. You may find a situation where she has used a grandfather or similar on her marriage detail due to her being illegitimate .... she may be with a 'step-father' in earlier census but using what she believed to be her true surname or mothers maiden later for marriage, but then naming a maternal grandfather as she didnt know her own fathers name ...

I've had 3 or 4 of these in my lines !

[oldcrone]

Feejay, have a problem with my grandparents' marriage as well (actually hadn't thought about the legality of it, etc before your post).  My grandfather definitely lied about his age when he married my grandmother in 1926.

On the marriage certificate, he said he was 38, but I know that he was either 45 or 42.  He gave his father's name as 'John Arthur Shaw', but when he married his first wife in 1906, he gave his father's name as 'Henry Arthur Shaw'!

What do you reckon, Guy!    Was this a legal/valid marriage? 

Clara

[philipsearching]

Hallo, Feejay

If you give us the names and details of the bride and father there are hundreds of Rootschatters who would be happy to help in the search.

All the best
Philip

[Nick Carver]

My gg grandmother remarried after the death of her husband. It was the lodger to whom she got hitched and bizarrely her age actually went down between the 1881 and 1891 censuses. Quite what she told her second husband about her age is anyone's guess because the age on the second marriage certificate does not tally with either census. Makes one wonder.