Age at marriage? .....

carmentea32 · Post by **carmentea32** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:25 pm

I know I've seen this somewhere .... what was the average age for marriage in the 1800s? Would the age be different in a place such as Barrhead Renfrew(small town), and Nairn (small farm or croft)?
Thanks in advance

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 2:57 pm

Hi Carmen

You ask some fascinating questions. The answer to this one might be somewhere in the information about the census on scotlandspeople. My fingers are twitching to see!
My wife's various family lines are West of Scotland Rural - mainly Ayrshire, and urban - mainly Paisley, and we were commenting the other night that the Paisley marriages were only just into their twenties whereas the farmers and Ag Labs were often late twenties and some even 30+ before they took a wife.
I think it may have been partly due to the lack of rented accommodation on farms. In the small towns there was often a whole family living in one room. The oldest would be desparate to get out and marriage was one way to do it.

This is anecdotal rather than factual but isn't this part of why we search for our roots.

Must go look for facts now. Google is great too!

Russell

carmentea32 · Post by **carmentea32** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:22 am

thanks Russell. I've been surfing around the web, trying to find this information, no luck yet.

Post by **HeatherH** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:54 am

Hi Carmen,
I found this info on Scotlands People.

What was and is the minimum age for marriage in Scotland?
Before 1929, Scots law followed Roman law in allowing a girl to marry at twelve years of age and a boy at fourteen, without any requirement for parental consent. However, according to one early 20th-century source*, marriage in Scotland at such young ages was in practice almost unknown. No doubt if marriages between children had become common, there would have been public pressure to raise the legal minimum age of marriage earlier than 1929. The Age of Marriage Act 1929 (applying in Scotland, England & Wales but not in Northern Ireland) made void any marriage between persons either of whom was under the age of sixteen. Sixteen remains the lower age-limit today, contained in the current legislation, the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977. Scots law still has no requirement for parental consent. *Source: Vital registration: a manual of the law and practice concerning the registration of births, deaths and marriages. (G T Bisset-Smith. 1st edition. Edinburgh: William Green & Sons, 1902

As to my own rellies the majority were 20 out of the 1697 I have found thus far.Only a handful under 20 and none under 18.
Happy Hunting,
HeatherH

Post by **emanday** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:25 am

The youngest I have found so far was 18, but, on average I'd say my lot mostly married around the 21 mark. It's not until my Grandparents that they were all at least 23, the oldest being 26.

However, during my search for Irish rellies I noticed one, not a rellie, where the girl was 15 and the husband 21.

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:53 am

Not an easy question as practice varied according to the era, location, profession/occupation, and religion; never mind there being no guarantee that any comment that I make later held true for every single couple

In the 1800s, in general a man would not marry until he could support his wife and the family that most probably would follow. That would most often mean that he wouldn't be able to consider marriage until he was in his mid/late 20s, even early 30s.

Those in the professional classes might marry earlier since their family background often provided the required financial security, - ditto the aristocracy.

It's only an impression, i.e. I can't back it up with firm statistics, but I suspect that Catholics in general married earlier.

Again it's based on impression rather than firm figures, but I'd not expect any great difference between an urban area such as Barrhead/Renfrew and Nairn ..................

One of those potentially very interesting research projects that I might just get around to some day is to have a detailed look at the annual reports from 1855 onwards of the Registrar General for Scotland, - as I'd suspect that one of the statistics that might have been extracted was the age at marriage !!

David

carmentea32 · Post by **carmentea32** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:27 pm

thank you everyone. I have a couple whose first child was apparently born when she was 26, he 36. I have been unable to find their marriage nor birth date for the children which I found in the census.
And me being me, am jumping to conclusions that perhaps he had been married before and the children came from a previous marriage.

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:09 pm

carmentea32 wrote:thank you everyone. I have a couple whose first child was apparently born when she was 26, he 36. I have been unable to find their marriage nor birth date for the children which I found in the census.
And me being me, am jumping to conclusions that perhaps he had been married before and the children came from a previous marriage.

Hi Carmentea

Given those ages, quite possibly "yes", as most marriages were between people of around the same age, .......

The problem there being that little four letter word "most"

, as there's plenty examples of age gaps such as here where the elder partner turns out not to have been married previously !

David

carmentea32 · Post by **carmentea32** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 4:44 pm

Thanks David - I might NOT be barking up the wrong tree then....

Davie · Post by **Davie** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 5:58 pm

Hi all
I have in my own lot, a seventeen year old male, Henry Todd married to a Twenty-two year old Mary McNaughton, in Kincardine in 1843.
there may be a year either way regarding the ages, according to Birth and Census returns
On the 1851 census, their eldest child is nine.

Davie