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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Laois (Queens) => Topic started by: TerringtonLass on Friday 17 September 10 00:08 BST (UK)
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The title says it all really! My great great grandmother, Anne Dunne, was born about 1821 but she married my great great grandfather, Michael Purcill, in the parish of Aghaboe, Co. Laois, on the 27th of November 1834. This would have made her 13 years old, her husband 16. Was this a regular occurance at the time or indeed was it possible to marry at that age, or is it more likely that her age isn't accurate on any of the records I have for her, including her death certificate and the report of the inquest?!
Many thanks,
Sarah
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Ages on death are only as accurate as the informants knowledge, so unless you have confirming dates from a variety of documents/sources then I would question it. Parish records would likely have more accurate details of the birth assuming she was baptised.
Having said that I don't think it was impossible for a marriage at that age.
Alan NZ
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Wouldn't have thought it was out of the question; - Loretta Webb married "Doo" Lynn at age 13 in 1948. She was "The Coal Miner's Daughter". :)
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Thank you both for your replies. The strange thing is that they didn't appear to have any children until 6 years after they married and then they seemed to come on a pretty regular basis. However, if my 2x great grandmother was 13 when she got married it would mean that she stopped having children when she was about 36. Now, if she was 46 that would make more sense! All I can go on is instinct and common sense, I don't suppose it's likely that I'll solve it beyond any doubt! All the same, all opinions are very welcome!!
Sarah
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dear sarah I think it is possible that she married at 13 because i remember learning in school that 12 was the age a girl could marry I dont know when the age was changed ann
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Hi Sarah,
You should also consider your X2 great grandparents marriage as possibly being a financial arrangement between families. Your X2 great grandmother may have had land or perhaps her father had died and it was a way of her having protection. As for her stopping having children perhaps there was a physical reason?
Regards
Sarah
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Prior to 1858 (I think) there was no legal age for marriage. Then until 1929 it was 12 for a girl and 14 for a boy. After that it became 16 for both sexes. Imagine though, it is possible there is a lady somewhere in Britain who was born in 1917, and married 82 years ago.
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Thank you so much for the latest three replies! I am extremely grateful, all points made are valid and interesting! Maybe now I have access to the parish records I will find her family, which might give me some clues as to what was going on and I shall remember everything everyone has said. Thank you again!
Sarah
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TerringtonLass, about 70 years later, but still in the pre planned family era, my grandmother had her last child, my mother, at the age of 31. There is no record of any still births before or after, and the 1911 census shows my mother and her 2 sisters as the only children to the marriage, none having been lost. So why? I truly have no idea, no one now survives from that era, and if they did I am sure they would most likely not know, and say nothing if they did!
This no doubt is just one well documented instance, and five years younger than your relative.
Having said all this however, remember that in 1834 it is quite possible that a person would have no accurate record of their age,
a 5 year variance being quite common.
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This is a question for RedRoger...Would you happen to know the name of the 1929 Act concerning marriageable ages? I've been estimating events based on the age of 16--seemingly incorrect--and would like to explore the question further.
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Here's a link to the text of the Act. It's title appears to be simply the Marriage Act 1929. Bear in mind it only extended to Scotland, England & Wales. Northern Ireland & the Republic of Ireland had different marriage legislation.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~framland/acts/age1929.htm
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Elwyn has already posted the information. This applies in the mainland UK from the date given, and not in the island of Ireland. Remember though in 1834 the whole of Ireland was part of the UK with representatives at Westminster. It makes perfect sense for the legal age of marriage for both sexes to have been far lower historically, remember that in the 19th century the average life expectancy of society was much lower than now.
An instance from my own tree to support this: My daughter married at the age of 38, and her daughter was born when she was 41. Her 2XGGM married at 16, had seven children and was dead at 28!
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Thanks for your responses to my question. I did an online search for Irish marriage legislation, and learned that a Marriages Act of 1972 'raised the minimum marriage age to 16 for boys and girls, retrospectively validated so-called "Lourdes marriages".'
http://indigo.ie/~kwood/acts.htm
I'm primarily interested in conditions in Ireland during the early 19th century, so I'll have to do a little more digging...
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To add to what I posted concerning the Marriages Act of 1972:
'On the detailed provisions, section 1 fixes 16 years as the normal minimum age for marriage. There is provision made for exemptions to be given for specified reasons and subject to specified safeguards which are set down in the section. This is the first time we have had a statutory minimum age for marriage and up to now we have been dependent on a common law requirement under which the minimum ages were 12 years for a girl and 14 years for a boy.'
http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/S/0073/S.0073.197211230004.html
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These ages, 12 and 14 respectively were the ages involved in Britain betwwen 1858 and 1929. A search will show several useful threads on this subject on Rootschat.