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My Grandparent were married before they were 21 in 1922. My understanding is that they had to get consent from their parents to do this. Does anyone know if this would have been just a verbal consent or whether a form and sinature was required. If it is the latter does anyone know if these forms still exist, where they are kept and if they are accessible to the general public.

When i got married not as early as 1922 i might add but 1958, my wife was not 21 at the time so she you had to have written consent from her Father,i understand it was an official form which he had to sign which was passed to the vicar of the church, or the register office if not a church wedding.

Sorry but i d not know if these documents survive or even where to look for them if they do

George

Same as George but mine was 1957 , as it was a Catholic Church marriage the banns had to be put in at the local register office and the consent form for me was handed to them . Dont know though whether these are kept by the Register Office as part of any file for the marriage i guess a phone call to one would give the answer.

Another thought!! Mum and Dad married Xmas Day 1929 and mum had to have consent, the consent form was given to the vicar when they were arranging the marriage

Just a quick thank you to you both George and Shirley. Just one more question. Do either of you know if the forms had to list both the Mother and Father of those getting married.

Re your query about Mother And Father

I had to ask my wife,if she could remember.She tells me that the forms must have had details of both her parents, because her parents were separated my wife had to get her Nan to get her Dad to sign the form.

Please remember its a long time ago since our marriage so we are not 100% sure of the facts.

George

Oooh really cant remember. sorry, i do know i was given a form to take home for parental consent and I think one of my parents had to take it back to the Register office so they could see the signature/s werent forged but cant remember if both parents had to sign ,
I wonder whether Google may find anything for it .

My mother had to have parental consent in 1956 as she was only 17 and I know that only her father signed it as her mother didnt want her to marry,ever.
As she was supposed to stay home and be the dutiful daughter and look after them in their old age!


My parents are still married..

Or, alternatively, they could have lied about their age and said they were 21 on the marriage certificate.

Jill

Thankfully they had no reason to lie as they are listed on their wedding certificate as 20 and 18. I was hoping to find the consent form to confirm the parents of my Grandmother as there is some query and I have yet to find her birth certificate.

Just thought I'd pipe up here! My Mum lied about her age when she married Dad (1937). She knew that her father wouldn't give his consent. He was a Major in the Royal Engineers and Dad wasn't. However, Grand father was out of the country, so they both lied! I had often heard the story, but it wasn't until I got hold of a copy of their marriage certificate that I could believe that my dear old Mum was that scheming.

Sorry, it must sound a bit of a boring story, but my point is, not all birth, marriage and death certificates are accurate!

i was 18 wen i married didnt get dad to sign anything but that was early 70s
my mum lied about her age wen she married my dad she sad she was 24 and dad 23 she fib she was actually 29
i only found out wen dad died

You've just made me look at my grandparents' marriage certificate

Harry and Clara were married on Nov 12 1902

The certificate says that Harry was 20, and Clara was 21, and that the ceremony was conducted "after Superintendent Registrar's Certificate"

However, Harry was born in 1885 and Clara in 1883 ................ so they were actually 17 and 19 respectively. Both their fathers were alive at the time.

Clara's sister was married the next day, saying she was 26 which was correct ...... but with the same notation "after Superintendent Registrar's Certificate".

I had not taken in that "after Superintendent Registrar's Certificate" notation before ........................... Clara and Hannah both lived in the parish where they were married, so why would they have this rather than Banns being called?

Hannah and her husband emigrated to New York almost immediately and never had any children.

Clara and Harry had probably anticipated marriage .............. my mother was born the following July!



I really had not before taken in the fact that Clara and Harry had lied on the certificate ..... I just had not put the 2 facts together!

My prim and proper grandparents!!!



sylvia

My prim and proper Paternal grandparents HAD to marry in a hurry,aunt Ruby arrived 4 months later.
When my youngest aunt found this out a few years ago when I started this FH lark she was totally shocked.
Not as shocked though as her parents when they found that Ruby HAD to marry later as well, to a man the same age as her Father I will bet !
My NOT prim and proper Maternal grandparents didnt have to marry,but mother says thats because her mum had learnt a few tricks and Dads mum was just a simple farm girl !

I was only 17 and hubby 19 when we married in 1965. We had to have written consent of both sets of parents.
Because hubby was fostered, his family had to find his Mum for consent. No father as such.
Years later when I begun the family tree, hubby wanted to trace his birth Mum, so I contacted the registrars to see if this written consent was kept, to get an idea of birth Mum's address, but no, consent was not kept, once looked at and confirmed it was binned.
Cheers Margaret.

Thank you Margaret. Not quite the answer I wanted but at least it has answered my question. Back to the drawing board. Its taken me about five years to find any record of my maternal Grandmother before she married my Grandfather. As she is only listed as a 'neice' on a census I guess trying to find her birth certificate is going to take me another five.

G
If you would like to give some details we can have a try at helping to find her birth?
viv

I got married in 1972 aged 18.

I didn't need parental consent as the law had changed in 1969 lowering the age to marry without consent to 18 from 21.

Birdi

I think the only way to find my Grandmothers (Dorothy Gilliat) birth certificate now is to look through the record book for BOSTON, LINCS in 1903 and see if any names of the parents correspond with the posssiblities that I have. Unfortunately I do not know where these would be kept and am unable to travel myself. As an alternative I am gradually sending off for all the birth certificates of children born in 1903 Boston, Linc (as and when I can afford it) with the forename Dorothy. I am trying to do this with some sort of systematic approach but so far it has been very expensive and as of yet I have had no luck. She is not listed on any of the ancestry sites under the name she carried through life so I can only assume she is registered under the maiden name of her Mother. I am fairly confident her Fathers name is Gilliat either Harry or Herbert (brothers). There is a possibility that her mother could have been called Aspell but I can not find her registered under the name Aspell either.

Does she give a fathers name and occupation on her marriage cert?
Are you sure she was born in Boston?
Died 1966?if so one year out to get her exact date of birth,Blast.

She is listed on the 1911 Census under Dorothy Gilliant (you will see from the census that the name was wrongly transcribed). On this census she is listed as being born is Boston,Lincs and this is all I have to go on. I know it is her on this census as I have followed another female child through to the loss of her son in the second world war, shot down in a Lancaster Bomber. My father remembered this story and the first name of the mother and the sons name but didn't know the surname (which I have now been able to find). Also Dorothy is listed a the neice of the head of the household. The story I have heard from a daughter of Dorothy is that when Dorothy went home to ask permission to get married the lady she was living with who she thought was her Aunt turned out to be her Mother (or visa versa). Its a very complicated story but is interesting and I would love to find out Dorothy's true parentage although I know I have the right family. Her Fathers name on her marriage certificate is Harry Gilliat Solider deceased. Can't remeber if I said before but the gentleman who is the head of the household in 1911 is called Herbert and he does have a brother called Harry. But who is the real Mother. Just want to say thank you for your interest.