England - could you marry your late wife's sister in the 1860s?

[a-l]

I wonder whether in these situations that they didn't marry because they had the same surname anyway. Just a thought to consider.

[louisa maud]

I cannot remember the actual date but there was a marriage on the fringes of my family, she had been his sister in law, they ran away to London and returned home to their small  village and when their first child was born there was an entry in the baptism  column  by the incumbent stating it was an unlawful marriage and there fore the child was not legitimate, it wasn't that long ago, from memory it very early 1900's
I do believe in some countries the brother has to look after the wife/wives of a deceased brother, even marrying them, increasing his wives, recently on TV

Louisa Maud

[AntonyMMM]

It wasn't "illegal" (as in they committed a criminal offence by doing it) but from 1835 to 1907 the Marriage Act of 1835 made it clear that such marriages were void.

For practical purposes though, if nobody raised an objection they could live happily as a married couple - it must have been known within their friends/family.

It is quite common to find, one of my ancestors did the same in the 1840s  - he and his wife's sister went about 15 miles from home to a different parish for the wedding.

[Sloe Gin]

Such marriages were prohibited by the Church but not actually illegal until 1835.

From the wikipedia link above:

1835 Marriage Act
The Marriage Act 1835 (5&6 Will.4 c.54), however, hardened the law into an absolute prohibition (whilst, however, validating any such marriages which had already taken place)

One of my great-grandmothers was widowed in 1829.  She subsequently married her late husband's brother in 1835 before the new Marriage Act came into force, but they married by licence in a different parish.  There is reason to think that they had been happily co-habiting for some time, as she had a daughter in 1831 whose father was not named in the baptismal register   

It must have been a quandary for them, they clearly wanted to marry but the Church was   But they took action once the prohibition was also about to become the law of the land.

[BumbleB]

I've got a couple of instances where someone married their dead wife's sister.  One where he married in two different churches, and one where he married in the same church (the first by Banns and the second by Certificate). 

In the second instance, he lived with his wife (married 1850 and died January 1863) and "sister in law" from at least 1851 until he married her in December 1863.

[Bearnan]

I grew up knowing that when my great grandmother died in 1901 leaving two tiny children my great grandfather 'took up ' with his sister in law when she came to look after the children. They had their own children quickly, by 1907 the could have married but never did.  In fact on the 1911 census they state they had been married the exact amount of time that he would have been married to my great grandmother. I have to say that really annoyed me! 

I hadn't realised when I started family history that there would be people I just wouldn't like, and others that I'm so glad I've found out about.

[juliengahere]

My husband's gg grandfather married his late wife's sister in 1852. It always puzzled me why they married in London, when they lived in Hanslope.  Reading these threads I can perhaps see why!

[barryd]

Google has a lot to say on the subject.

https://www.google.com/#q=marrying+your+deceased+husband's+brother

[bugbear]

Such marriages were prohibited by the Church but not actually illegal until 1835.

From the wikipedia link above:

1835 Marriage Act
The Marriage Act 1835 (5&6 Will.4 c.54), however, hardened the law into an absolute prohibition (whilst, however, validating any such marriages which had already taken place)

I was reading this thread, and was going to post that I had such a marriage in my tree;
The first marriage was 1837 to Mary, but Mary died 1841, and the second marriage was to her sister Anna in 1842. But I continued reading the thread.

But the second marriage has been a long-standing mystery to me - everything took place in Norfolk, except the marriage to Anna, which was in Saint Peter's, Liverpool (!!!), which I have often cited as a marriage I would never have found in the days of reading parish registers.

This thread has explained everything nicely - thank you!

 BugBear