Gretna Green Marriages

[RJ_Paton]

Surely EVERY marriage since 1855 in Scotland has to be registered irrespective where in Scotland the marriage took place.

In the (SP) drop-down box for Districts in Dumfries there is no Gretna Green but there is Graitney or Gretna.
In 1875 there were 12 marriages (according to SP).
This one is an example.

BEATTIE   ANN    MCKINNON THOMAS    1875   Graitney or Gretna

So it looks like there is no district called Gretna Green and the marriage of Thomas Lawrie & Margaret Beauly in 1875 was not officially recorded.

The vast majority of the marriages held  at various locations in Gretna were irregular marriages - and there are surviving records which do not appear to be held by the National records of Scotland. The link I supplied provides a link to a booklet published about these different archives.

This pdf copy of the leaflet Irregular Border and Scottish Runaway Marriages (8th edition, 2014) compiled by Ronald Nicholson provides details of the extant registers and their current (or last known) location. It is made available on our website by kind permission of the author.

The marriage records on Scotlands People are recorded by Parish or Civil Registration area which may not correspond to the more popular reference names used.

[Ruskie]

I have a Gretna marriage performed in 1866 by Simon Lang which does not appear on SP.
I am guessing that this may be because it was not a "statutory" marriage? Annie may know if irregular marriages appear on SP ?

Added: I see that Falkryn has more or less confirmed my theory.

Those marriages which do appear on SP in "Gretna" may have occurred in the parish church rather than at the Blacksmiths.

[Ruskie]

"If they had kids would the Gretna marriage show up in birth certificates?"

Yes, there's no reason why not as marriages in Ireland etc. are recorded on births.

Annie

In my example, yes, the child's b/c says the parents married at (just plain) "Gretna".

[Treetotal]

Hi Ruskie...I have old postcards of The Blacksmith's shop at Gretna Green where marriages took place, if you would like copies just let me know.
Carol

[Ruskie]

That's very nice of you Carol. 

I would be interested to see them. I'm sure it would be appreciated if you could post the images here for all of us to enjoy. (depending on how many you have of course - I wouldn't expect you to scan and post dozens of images - perhaps one or two of the 'best' ones should probably suffice) 

I must add that my Gretna marriage is actually my brother in law's family rather than my own. 

[Treetotal]

Okay....here are the first two.
Carol

[Treetotal]

This is my favourite...all those lovely photos...one of them looks like Robbie Burns 
Carol

[Treetotal]

here is the last one.
Carol

[buckhyne]

I thought that every marriage since 1855 must be officially registered yet I cannae find Thomas Lawrie & Margaret Beauly (1875) in SP.

Every "Regular" marriage should be officially registered. The problem is that Scots Law still recognised several forms of "irregular"  marriages although mechanisms existed where couples could have such marriages officially registered this was purely a personal decision of the couples involved.

See the National Records of Scotland website for information about irregular Border marriages

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/birth-death-and-marriage-records/irregular-border-marriage-registers

I read that.
It appears that the irregular and runaway marriages are all over the shop.
There is no central depository of them.
If Wikipedia is correct and 16+% of Scottish Marriages are proclaimed at Gretna Green then that must mean that the marriages that ScotlandsPeople hold are only a fraction of the total Scottish marriages.
It doesn't make sense to me.
In that list there are records up to 1940 but surely any marriage (whether regular or irregular) has to be registered to qualify for tax allowances and any other benefits.