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Hi everyone.

Does anyone know the upper age limit for someone to be classed as a minor in 1846?.The reason I ask is because my great great grandmother is classed as a minor on her wedding certificate.

Thanks so very much in anticpation

Keith :-)

The age of consent was 21 so far as I know - up until the late 1960s (England)

Well Girls could marry at aged 12 and boys at 14 wiith parental consent Bothy my grt gran and her sistermarried at 15 in c 1870

A girl could be married at 12 and a boy at 14 but the marriage would have to be consented to by a parent or guardian

Hi Flip
Thank you I wasnt sure because at that time she would have been round 18 years old what threw me was the thought that she was underage, i.e. a girl.
That has cleared it up for me .

Thank you so much.

Keith :-) :-) :-)

Hi Shirley.
Thanks for that,
The census 1841 gave her birth year as 1828 but when I saw her marriage cert I was doubtful.
Anyway thanks so much.

Keith
:-) :-)

Hi jolee.

I really appreciate the way everyone helps out. I realiise now that its not all straight forward there are many pitfalls .

Kindest regards

keith
:-) :-)

I believe consent from parents had to be given for marriages if child was under 21, but as Shirley & Jolee have said, they could get married at 12 - with consent!

Parental consent

No marriage of a person under the age of 21 was valid without the consent of parents or guardians. Clergymen who disobeyed the law were liable for 14 years transportation.

Although Jews and Quakers were exempted from the 1753 Act, it required religious non-conformists and Catholics to be married in Anglican churches.

Restrictions removed

This restriction was eventually removed by Parliament in the Marriage Act of 1836 which allowed non-conformists and Catholics to be married in their own places of worship.

It was also made possible for non-religious civil marriages to be held in register offices which were set up in towns and cities.

Hi Flip
Thank you so much for the information I hadnt realised how complicated the law was on marriage for such a long time.Its hard to believe that girls as young as 12 could be married with the blessing of the state.What a hard life they had then.

Kindest Regards
Keith :-) :-) :-) :-)