a strange case of a girl too young to be married

[diavalos]

Hi all
Received Jessie Francess Hart's birth cert today. She was born 15th Jan 1878 at Holton St. Habergam Eaves nr. Burnley. Father John Hart coal miner and wait for it...........mother Mary Ann Casey.Certainly some more digging to be done here.
Joyce

[Guy Etchells]

Hi,
I am sorry I was not more Technical in my last post. But the laws in England and Wales were quite plain when it came too.
Age of Concent in England and Wales:
The age of consent for heterosexual acts in England was set at 12 in 1275 and remained so for six centuries - due to the wording of the law, the age of consent only applied to women (consequently, all amendments to the law also only applied to women). The wording was along the lines of "It shall be deemed illegal to ravage a maiden who is not of age" - at the time "of age" being 12. Therefore, there was, and is, technically no age of consent for the male participant
- unless the female participant is an adult in which case laws pertaining to sex with a minor and so on come into force. The English law became applicable in Wales following the Acts of Union (1536 and 1543). In medieval Welsh law there was no actual equivalent of the concept of the age of consent as such, but a girl was marriagable at 12-14 (the onset of puberty) and a fine was payable for the taking of a girl's maidenhood by force; the rules varied according to status and may not have been applied rigidly to commoners

A concern that young girls were being sold into brothels led Parliament to raise the age of consent to 13 in 1875 under the Offences Against the Person Act 1875. After W. T. Stead's Maiden Tribute articles, the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 raised the age of consent to 16.

Male-male homosexual activity had been illegal since the Buggery Act 1533 and this was reinforced in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 extended buggery laws to include any kind of sexual activity between males. It is common folklore that an amendment that would have criminalised lesbian acts was rejected by Queen Victoria because she refused to believe that some women did such things; but it is likelier that those presenting the amendment excluded it (as did the House of Lords 40 years later) on the assumption that it would give women ideas.]

Male homosexual acts were decriminalised under the Sexual Offences Act 1967, Section 1, although the age of consent for such acts was set at 21, whereas the age of consent for heterosexual acts was 16. However, the legislation applied only in England and Wales.
haselbury

Unfortunately you have confused the age of consent to sexual intercourse with the age of consenting to marry.
They are not the same.

Under ecclesiastical law a couple could marry as long as they understood the significance of the ceremony.
Girls as young as 7 years old married but they did not have sexual intercourse until puberty.
Ecclesiastical law and civil law were out of step with each other many times until 1927 when they finally worked in unison.
Cheers
Guy

[JAP]

Hi all
Received Jessie Francess Hart's birth cert today. She was born 15th Jan 1878 at Holton St. Habergam Eaves nr. Burnley. Father John Hart coal miner and wait for it...........mother Mary Ann Casey.Certainly some more digging to be done here.
Joyce

Hello Joyce,

Hmmm ...

At least that seems to discount any suggestion that two marriages might have been involved given that:
*John HART's wife Mary Ann is recorded in every census from 1881-1911 with a consistent age (b ca 1855) and consistent birthplace (Poulton-le-Fylde)
*In 1911 the length of their marriage is given as 35 years
*On an 1878 birth cert (Jessie Frances) and an ?1892 birth cert (Mary Elizabeth), the mother is recorded as Mary Ann CASEY

The problems seem to be:
*No Mary Ann CASEY, b ca 1855, Poulton-le-Fylde has been located in 1861 or 1871
*No marriage of a John HART to a Mary Ann CASEY has been located between 1871 and 1881.
In 1871 John HART (John's surname given as HART), 18, unmarried, coal miner drawer, b Ashton in Makerfield was living in Ashton in Makerfield with his stepfather, William HOLDEN, mother Frances, HART brothers & sisters, and a HOLDEN half-sister.  By 1881, John & Mary Ann (recorded as his wife) were together with children Jessie F 3, and William 1.

A slight complication is:
*In 1881, John's household is recorded with the surname HOLDING.
(Incidentally, in 1881 his stepfather's household is also recorded as HOLDING.  By 1891 it is back to HOLDEN - transcribed as HOLDER.)

What now?

JAP

[diavalos]

Hi
 i really dont know, but after receiving the cert and seeing Habergham Eaves as the address i remembered that some time ago i found a Mary A Casey living at Habergham. It is the 1891 Census and Mary A is 20 and born Blackpool. I discounted it at the time but now i think that maybe she is the Mary A on the 1871 census age 9 living with who i believe to be my Mary Anns parents she is recorded as daughter, but i have wondered if maybe she is a neice or illegitimate or i dont know! It is all very confusing. I spent all yesterday evening searching for a marriage with every different name they have used but to no avail. I might try Burnley library next week as they apparently have marriage indexes. The Caseys were Catholic and family rumour has it that their was some religious break in the family but no-one knows what.
Onwards and upwards then I will solve this if it kills me.
Joyce

[JAP]

Hello Joyce,

I think you might be getting a tad confused.

You refer to a Mary A CASEY who is 20, b Blackpool, living in Habergsham Eaves in 1891 and suggest she is the same as a  Mary A CASEY who was "on the 1871 census age 9".  But someone aged 9 in 1871 would be ca 29 in 1891 ...
Do you mean aged 9 in 1881??

Are you talking about the family of James CASEY & wife Catherine??

I will try to set down some details of this family - it might help everybody in investigating your puzzle.

1865
Probable marriage.  Dec qtr Fylde.  James CASEY, a Cathrine KEOUGH on the same page.

1871
RG10/4146/150/24
7 Basket St, Burnley, Lancashire
CASEY
James, Head, 25, Cab Driver, b Ireland Co Myo.
Catherine, Wife, 20, b Dublin
John, Son, 4
Thomas, Son, 3
Edward, Son, 2
Mary Ann, Daughter, 1
Children all born Blackpool

1881
RG11/4147/67/50
41 Milton St, Burnley
CASEY
James, Head, 38, Cab Driver, b Irland (sic)
Catherine, Wife, 33, b Oldham, Lancashire
Thomas, Son, 13, b Blackpool
Edward, Son, 12, b Burnley
Mary A, Daughter, 9, b Preston
Catherine, Daughter, 7, b Bolton 
James, Son, 7, b Burnley
Martin, Son, 5, b Burnley
Ellin, Daughter, 2, b Burnley

1891
*RG12/3364/12/18
8 Raws Ct, Burnley
CASEY
Thomas, Head, 23, General Labourer, b Oldham
Edward, Brother, 22, Coachman, Blackpool
Ellen, Sister, 12, Scholar, b Blackpool
and a lodger
All are unmarried
*RG12/3367/19/5
Habergham Eaves
Mary A CASEY, Servant, Unmarried, 20, General Servant, b Blackpool

There is nothing in the 1871 and 1881 censuses which would suggest that this Mary A(nn) CASEY was anything other than the daughter of James & Catherine.
Incidentally, there is no actual mention in the above censuses of Poulton-le-Fylde.  But it does seem likely that John, Edward and Mary Ann are the following three CASEY births registered in Fylde - John Sep qtr 1866, Edward Jun qtr 1869, Mary Ann Jun qtr 1870.

You say that this Mary A CASEY was "living with who i believe to be my Mary Anns parents".
If by "my Mary Ann" you mean Mary Ann (CASEY) HART b 1855, then that's simply not possible.
James and Catherine are far too young to be the parents of "your" Mary Ann.
In 1881, James & Catherine are recorded as 38 and 33 (and in 1871, their recorded ages were even lower - 25 and 20).  "Your" Mary Ann (wife of John HART) was 26 in 1881.

I wonder where the idea (i.e. that "your" Mary Ann had parents named James & Catherine) came from?

Regards,

JAP

[JAP]

I'VE FOUND IT!
As you can see, I'm quite excited. 

http://www.lawsons.ca/marriages/ca-01.html

Isle of Man Marriages

CASEY, Mary Ann   (date)30 Jan 1876  (dis)D  (vol)A2  (page)61  HART, John

JAP

[JAP]

Dear Joyce,

Now I've come down to earth I'll tell you how I got there.

To quote your own words, I was feeling a bit the same way i.e. "I will solve this if it kills me".

Remember Mary CASEY (I mentioned her in reply #10) living in Poulton-le-Fylde in the household of her 70yo Grandfather, John MCMANUS b Ireland?  Mary was said to be aged 2 and born Isle of Man.
That connexion of the Isle of Man and Poulton-le-Fylde has been niggling away at me.

And remember that there was a connexion of the Isle of Man and the HARTs - David MILLER, Nephew, aged 2, born Douglas, Isle of Man, living with John HART & Mary Ann in 1891?
(Incidentally, he seems to have become David Wm HART, Son, 12, born Durham by 1901!?)

Well, today I thought I should really, if at all possible, explore those Isle of Man connexions.

So first to check out the censuses.
I first tried a search of the 1871 IoM census for a Mary CASEY - only one.

1871
RG10/5776/166/15
68 Duke St, Onchan, Isle of Man
CASEY
Martin (transcribed as Marlon), Head, 43, Umbrella Maker & Workg Cutler, b Roscommon Ireland
Jessie, Wife, 35, b Aberdene Ireland (sic)
Mary A, Daughter, Unmarried, 16, Assistant Umbrella Maker, b England
Jessie, Daughter, 11, Scholar, b Douglas, Isle of Man
June, Daughter, 9, Scholar, b England
Martin, Son, 6, Scholar, b Douglas
James, Son, 4, b Douglas
Samuel J, Son, 3 mths, b Douglas
LEACH, Samuel, Nephew, 17, Assistant Cutler, b Whithorn Scotland

So ...   A Mary A CASEY of exactly the right age, born in England, and with a mother called Jessie (name of "your" Mary Ann's first child).

I looked up Isle of Man resources on the relevant RC board.  Unfortunately I wasted a lot of time!  I clicked on the Brian Lawson site listed there and it said all the info had been transferred to the IofM FHS.  Went there and it seemed it was necessary to take out membership in order to access useful info.  Of course, had I actually read the instructions on the Brian Lawson site, I would have seen that it says to click on 'Research' on the FHS site - that actually brings up his (free) indexes.  Duh!

Finally I thought I'd have one last try so put
"Isle of Man" BDM
into Google and the very first hit led me to Brian Lawson's wonderful marriage index and the Great Discovery!

From the IoM FHS site at http://www.iomfhs.im/ , click on 'Research', one can also access (free) his other great indexes.

In 1881, Jessie CASEY was a widow (still making umbrellas and listed as b Scotland); in 1901 she was with son Martin & family in Everton, Lancs.
The Brian Lawson burials index lists Martin CASEY, age 49, date 23 Feb 1874.

Anyway, have fun!  It looks as though this might open up possibilities for much more research going backwards.

Thank you for an interesting puzzle!

Regards,

JAP

[diavalos]

Eureka
I have found it. Mary Ann Casey married John Hart Dec 1874. Isle of man. Thankyou you have saved my sanity
Joyce

[diavalos]

Hi again
I was so excited i wrote the date down wrong. but it is there. So i dont care. I am celebrating with coffee and chocolate bisciuts. Long live the Isle-of-man.
Joyce