Legal Age for Marriage in Ireland

[HugoBeauchamp]

Can anyone enlighten me please?
What was the legal age at which a girl could get married in Ireland in the 1880s/1890s, was it different from England & Wales?

Thanks

H

[myluck!]

I am open to correction but I believe that as Ireland was part of the Union of Great Britain and Ireland the Marriage Act of 1836 was applicable until Irish law amended in the 1900s.

This said, bear in mind that Roman Catholic Canon law stated a girl could marry at 12 and a boy at 14!
So anywhere an actual age isn't given is vague in the extreme. For all religions and/or none, Minor could be any age under 21 in the 1800s and Full any age over.

Even today the Family Law Act 1995 in Ireland states that anyone under 18 can marry with their parents consent and notice from the Family Circuit Court or High Court.

recent newspaper article as ancedotal evidence!
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/tall-order-30-tiers-not-a-piece-of-cake-2298675.html
the third paragraph states that both bride and groom are 17

[HugoBeauchamp]

Thanks Myluck!

I thought I hadn't dreamt it!

H

[aghadowey]

Atually the 1836 Marriage Act did not cover Ireland-

"The Marriage Act 1836 and the Registration Act 1836 came into force in 1837 in England and Wales and provided the statutory basis for regulating and recording marriages."
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=322

"There followed a number of attempts over the years to make registration comprehensive and compulsory but it was not until 1836, following a Parliamentary report, that legislation was introduced creating a civil registration system in England and Wales. During the passage of this legislation, the government made clear its intention to extend the principle of registration to Ireland . Nevertheless, some eight years were to elapse before this was to occur.
"The provisions introduced in England and Wales empowered the Established Church to register the marriages but marriages in other churches were to be registered by a civil registrar. In Ireland the Roman Catholic Church was concerned that this latter requirement might detract from the religious nature of the marriage ceremony. Consequently, provisions were introduced by the government in 1845 to enable the registration of non Catholic marriages and for the appointment of registrars who were also given the power to solemnise marriages by civil contract."
http://www.groireland.ie/history.htm

[myluck!]

How interesting aghadowey
I had never really thought about it as most records I have looked at from Ireland seem to only use the Full or Minor rather than an actual age at that time

[lizzielynes]

Did a person have to prove their age in the 1800's to state whether they were FULL or MINOR when marrying? I believe that one of my ancestors was a minor when they married in 1872, however, the record states full. Also, her mother a Roman Catholic, would have been either 12 or 13 when marrying a 22 year old in 1849. Shocking!! in today's society. Finding out so much information it's amazing.

[aghadowey]

As far as I know there was no proof needed- remember someone marrying in 1872 would not have had a birth certificate- and it was up to the clergyman/registrar to proceed with the ceremony. It it took place in the bride's church then the clergyman would have been likely to have known the family (perhaps one or both parents were witnesses).
A bride of 12 or 13 would have been highly unusual even at that time. I suspect that she was at least a few years older and perhaps her age wasn't accurately reported in census or death records (most people would not have known exactly when they were born).

[siobhaneilis1018]

Hello to all who read this.  I am American-Irish researching my maternal grandmother's roots dating back to the 1800's.  I read with interest about boys and girls marrying at the age of 12 and 13.  The records I reviewed on my great, great grandfather reveal he was 13 years old when he married my great, grand grandmother.  YIKES!  To boot, under the age category, girls were called "spinsters" and boys were labeled as "bachelors" - no ages were given on the official church documents.  I would love to hear from anyone who can shed some light on this subject.  I'm assuming it had to do with economics and if anyone has more information about this time period.  My gg grandfather was born in 1873 and married in 1886.  His name was Daniel Bradley and they lived in Kingswilliamtown in County Cork.  Thank you, Siobhan.

[Elwyn Soutter]

Siobhan,

The terms bachelor/spinster to indicate unmarried men and women (of any age) have been standard in the UK and Ireland for several hundred years. They are still used today.

By 1886 it would have been very rare to marry if you were under 16. Indeed the average age for men to marry was about 22 and 20 for women.  Most people in Ireland in the 1800s didn’t celebrate birthdays and rarely knew their age all that accurately especially as the years went by. So ages in censuses and other official documents are fairly unreliable. And on death certificates (where the information was necessarily supplied by a 3rd party) an error of up to 10 years for someone in their 60s or 70s was commonplace. I’d be cautious about assuming that ages were correct just because they appear on some official document.

You say your Daniel Bradley was married in Kingwilliamstown in 1886. I see just  1 marriage there that year, to Elizabeth Linehan. That Daniel’s father was Michael Bradley.  I searched the 1873 birth records for that same area and found only 1 Daniel Bradley birth (on 13.8.1873). His father was John. So there’s no sign of a birth in 1873 for your Daniel, with father Michael. The 1886 marriage certificate says Daniel was full age ie 21 or over.  I suspect therefore he wasn’t born in 1873, but some years earlier.

Whatever the law said about the minimum age to marry, the thing to consider is that most people couldn’t marry until they were in a financial position to support their wife. A 13 year old couldn’t do that. Few men could afford to marry before they were 18/19 or older.