Genealogy Chat

hi....does anyone know if it is likely that my ggg/gm was likely to have been married and had a baby at the age of 14 in and around 1825?

Yes, the other day someone posted that girls could marry at 12 and boys at 14 (best check the threads to see if I'm correct). Looks like they were as bad as they are today (teenagers)!! Jacquie

Yes Jacqueline is right. I don't think the law changed 'til as late as 1929 Christine

thank you xxx Will check .....hope it is correct as otherwise i have done the wrong searches

Bear in mind that she would have had to be a well fed girl. My half starved ag labs wouldn't have started to menstruate until about 16 or 17. Brenda

hmmmmmmmmmmm.......dont think i will find the answer to that.... thanks anyway....the dates tell me she was 14 when she had her 1st child and was also married

Heidi, Do you have her marriage? If she was under 21 she would need her parents consent to marry, and that should be noted in the register. She could have lied of course, but she'd have had to be a very mature looking 14 year old to get away with that...........unless the vicar was very short-sighted or drunk, or both maybe. Cazza

Age of consent was 21. Joy

ok now i am gonna cry.......if age of consent was 21....then i have taken wrong route......if indeed was allowed to marry at 14 then pheww i am ok..... i would really like to know....trying to get the tree sorted for an xmas pressie

Plenty forged parents consent, still can marry without consent in Scotland! My Gt Grandmother married under 21 and it only says so on the certificate not on the index. Jacquie

she was 14.......very odd tho if consent was 21??? booo hooooo grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I NEED HELP

thanx again xxx i think I am correct....but have one of the most popular names....so does get very confusing at times(name is Collins) And my brick wall did crumble a little but has managed to rebuild itself....

You'll probably be right, I've had some that you seem to go round in a circle with!! I found one in the family who was married and pregnant at 15 so take heart. Jacquie

It's not that odd that the age of majority was 21 but she was wed at 14. Many of my rellies were married at 19 or 20 and thus would also have been below the age of majority. It simply means that their parents would need to give permission for them to be married. Think about it: in 1825 if your 14 year old daughter got pregnant, you had two choices. One, get her respectably married and ensure her offspring were legitimate, or two, refuse to let her be marrried and let her be known as the village whore.

Hi, Yes, it`s right that girls could marry at 12 and boys at 14 right up until 1928/9. Seems unbelievable now! It was either that or out to work. No childhood to speak of . Jay.

The age of consent for marriage was 12 for a girl and 14 for a boy but that was with parents consent. Without parents consent it was 21. If she was physically advanced enough to get pregnant it is possible that she would have been married off with her parents consent even at that young age. However since I dont know how you have established her age at that point in her life remember that ages on census returns are often guess work and that baptism wasn't always carried out when the child was a baby. Hope you understand all that!

You may well be on the right track: 'age of consent 21' means aged 21 and over they didn't need parental consent to marry but, as earlier posters have said, with parents' consent girls could marry at 12 and boys at 14; though I believe it was pretty rare for marriages to take place this young.

Sarah....I am researching the Male side of the family.....Came across the ggg/gm and then was given the Age and place living in 1871 cenus wiht another child....and my ggg/gf....so worked out shen was 14 when she had my gg/gf Did that make sense?

Heidi I have been searching for information for others for a long time, in my searches have often come across the ages of married partners to be very young, so I think you are on the right road. Sally.