!7th Century marriages

[GCE]

Help!!!

is it possible that my 8  x gt grandparents born around 1667 could have married at the age of twelve?

GCE

[GCE]

Oops subject should have read 17th Century marriages

GCE

[stanmapstone]

In England and Wales the legal age for marriage was 12 for girls and 14 for boys, until the 1929 Age of Marriage Act which made all marriages carried out from 10 May 1929, void if either partner was under the age of 16.

Stan

[ScouseBoy]

Help!!!

is it possible that my 8  x gt grandparents born around 1667 could have married at the age of twelve?

GCE

    Which part of the United Kingdom is your question referring to, please?

[GCE]

Kent - My ancestors Mary Wildbore and Simon Wales appear to have married at 12 years old and Mary had a child soon after who died under the age of 18 months. They do not seem to have had any live children until their daughter Bennett was born in the 1690s.
GCE

[stanmapstone]

Kent - My ancestors Mary Wildbore and Simon Wales appear to have married at 12 years old
GCE

What source does this come from? Although 12 was legal it would be unusual.

Stan

[GCE]

Kent England Tyler's Parish Records
GCE

[..claire..]

A transcript of the marriage says Simon was a husbandman and both he and Mary were 24 years old.

Marriage 18 Mar 1678 at St.Nicholas at Wade

claire

EDIT: record on FindMyPast ~  Kent, East Kent marriage index 1538-1754

[stanmapstone]

From "The Oxford Guide to Family History" by David Hay;
"Another myth that has been firmly laid to rest by social historians is that English people used to marry when they were very young......In early modern England, marriage was delayed until a young person had spent several years in service or as an apprentice....and until a couple had the means to set up a home on their own."
"Brides and grooms were normally in their mid-twenties. At least 1 in 6 people never married;sometimes the proportion was as high as 1 in 4."

Stan