Bridal pregnancies?

[DianaCanada]

Not all the women stayed at home after they married and had a family.

Two of my great grandmothers had large families, kept the house and worked in the Jute Mills in Dundee in the late 1800's. It must have been an extremely hard life for them. Both of them helped in their later years to look after grandchildren to allow their mothers to work. One in particular looked after her bedridden daughter and her two children after the husband was killed in WW1. At the same time she took in another grandson after his father was killed in WW1 and the mother deserted the boy. I have a great deal of admiration for her. She is the lady in my Avator.

Dorrie

These women were heroes.

[Viktoria]

I don’t think my point that many pregnancies pre marriage were of young girls ,did anything minimise the recognition of the heavy burden of work and childbearing   that were the norm for the average woman in those days.
My mother could remember women
returning very soon to work after having a baby ,daughters  took the babies to the mill and the mothers fed them during what was their lunch break.
My grandmother often nursed young babies when their mothers had to go back to work, she was usually feeding one of her own anyway.
Between 1883 and 1910 she had twelve babies.
We don’t know we are born!
Viktoria.

[dowdstree]

You are right Viktoria in saying we don't know we are born these days.

My great granny (Mary Malcolm) married on 15th October 1879 at the age of 19 and had her 1st baby on 23rd December 1879. She went on to have another 14 between 1879 and 1906.Two of whom were stillborn (as listed on burial register which was given to me by a cousin and confirmed by Dundee City Archives.) Only six of her brood outlived her.

Dorrie

[IgorStrav]

Not all the women stayed at home after they married and had a family.

Two of my great grandmothers had large families, kept the house and worked in the Jute Mills in Dundee in the late 1800's. It must have been an extremely hard life for them. Both of them helped in their later years to look after grandchildren to allow their mothers to work. One in particular looked after her bedridden daughter and her two children after the husband was killed in WW1. At the same time she took in another grandson after his father was killed in WW1 and the mother deserted the boy. I have a great deal of admiration for her. She is the lady in my Avator.

Dorrie

Went back to look at her photo, Dorrie.  She manages to look cheerful despite it all.
Thank goodness they had that resilience, otherwise we'd not be here ourselves.

[Maiden Stone]

Regarding terminology. The correct word for women and girls in Lancashire is lass. She might be a young lass or an "owd lass".
The mother of a great-grandfather was a young lass, aged 18 when he was born without a named father. Her mother was 18 when she had her first child, 2 years before she married the father. Her mother married aged 19, 6 weeks before birth of her first child, eldest of 13. 18 year-old bride of the illegitimate GGF was pregnant. Their son's 19 year-old bride was pregnant. Those 5 women produced a total of 43 children, 28 of whom survived childhood. The mothers all did paid work, mostly in mills, while bringing up their children.     

[dowdstree]

Thank you IgorStrav. We believe the photo was taken not long after her husband passed away in 1913. Family stories say he was a drunk and a wife beater so she must have been quite relieved to bury him.

What may bear this out is the fact that he was buried beside his brother in law and not with his parents and children who pre deceased him. There was plenty of room for him in the family plot at the time. Mary herself lies with her in laws and children in Dundee.

Dorrie

[Sloe Gin]

The most children being born to one couple in my OH's ancestry was eighteen living children.  I don't look upon them as a burden to either the mother or father because there was no state pension at that time and children's wages in later years were the couple's pension pot.

This is the point I made earlier on which most people seem to have ignored.  It explains why working class couples often waited for a pregnancy before marrying.

[a chesters]

One of my ancestors married Sept 1864, first child born Dec 1864, baptised Sept 1865. I think that might have been to make the baptism "respectable"
The birth was registered in Colchester, Essex, but the baptism was in Garvestone Norfolk, mothers birth place.

[coombs]

The most children being born to one couple in my OH's ancestry was eighteen living children.  I don't look upon them as a burden to either the mother or father because there was no state pension at that time and children's wages in later years were the couple's pension pot.

This is the point I made earlier on which most people seem to have ignored.  It explains why working class couples often waited for a pregnancy before marrying.

I don't think anyone has ignored your explanation as such. We do get that working class people often waited for a pregnancy before walking down the aisle.

For instance, my ancestors wed in rural Suffolk in July 1845 and their first baby was born October 1845, meaning the bride was 6 months pregnant at the time of her wedding.